Mavuzo

Mavuzo
Base Information
Classification	Carnivore/chaser
Status	Minor Race
Locomotion	Walker
Terrain	Plains
Body Form
Confluence	Semi-humanoid
Bio-Identenoid	Alien
Size	1.6 meters
Weight	100 kg
Culture
Languages	Mavuri
Social Structure	Balkanization
Technological Epoch	TL:10-12
Psionic potential	Standard
Origin World
Homeworld location	Mavuzo (Mavuzog 0822)
UWP	A787A79-C Starport A Excellent: Starship Construction, Overhaul, Refined fuel Size 7 Medium (11,200 km, 0.70g - 0.94g) Atmosphere 8 Dense Hydrographics 7 Wet World 70% Population A High (50 billion) Government 7 Balkanization Law 9 High Law (no weapons out of home) Tech Level C Average Stellar (robots)
Primary Star	F0 V
Atmosphere	Dense
Off-world presence	Yes
Zoetic individuals	Yes
Source
Reference	Bill Bledsaw. Theta Borealis Sector (Group One, 1981), .
Canon	No
Also see

The Mavuzo are a powerful, expanding sophont species.

• They are a Minor Non-Human Race with a semi-humanoid appearance.
• They are a symbiotic species.

Description (Specifications)

The Mavuzo are a belligerent, aggressive minor sophont species. They are the namesakes of Mavuzog Sector.

Homeworld:

Mavuzo, a dense atmosphere temperate garden world located in Mavuzo Subsector of Mavuzog Sector.

Origins

They predate all sentient life in the sectors around them. This last pocket of refugees believe that they are the last of their kind. They avoid aggressive expansion as a result. They have become more conservative as a result of the countless lessons learned from the millennia of their species. Castes can be developed and adapted to a myriad of conditions, atmospheres, hydrospheres and biospheres. They have designed adaptability into their genome. Variable respiratory regimes, filtration, compression and combinations to cope with different gases and atmospheric tints are commonplace among them.

The overwhelming evidence is that the Mavuzo are in fact native to the world of Mavuzo – they share a biological and evolutionary background with other lifeforms present on the world. However, there is strong evidence to indicate that their early development was as a result of genetic modification. The evidence seems to be that this was undertaken by the Ancients.

Physiology

The root species seems to be a versatile branch of bilaterally symmetrical, poikilothermic heterotrophic consumers. The species are caste-based, and this determines the exact nature of their physical form.

Physical Form

Mavuzo originally had a cephalothorax and abdominal body segmentation. This was derived as a residual from a smaller body mass-exoskeletal origin. Additional calcium carbonate spongiform mesh lattices formed internally to support heavily muscular and structural elements.

• Ancestral Mavuzo: Bilateral N-BST-AN-LL-N, exoskeleton, hemolymph fluids, leather exterior, claws / gripper manipulators.

The basic body plan was bilaterally symmetrical. There are six primary appendages and three secondary ones. Among the refugees studied in the Mavuzo sector, most of these castes have a pair of dorsal muscle knobs which are the vestigial remnants of wing roots. Dorsal covering casing is evident embryonically.

The Mavuzo digestive system has three oral openings: one larger anterior orifice and two smaller lateral slits, one on either side of the body. The anterior opening has no digestive function, instead serving as the housing for a symbiotic organism that dramatically increases the mental capacity

• Symbiote Brain: Radial HBS-T-NN-NN-T, cartilaginous skeleton, hemolymph fluids, skin exterior, no natural weapons, tentacle (tail) manipulator.

Three plates create the portal doorways to these oral groves. On the back of each hinged plate is a long whip antennae. A muscular ring in the ancestral “throat” can evert or withdraw the cranial sensor bundle as needed. It is afforded reflexive protection when pulled under armor when a threat is perceived.

Respiration

Mavuzo breathe through six ports in their abdominal walls. There are three nostrils on each side of the body.

At a certain stage in their development they had an ancestor which could use a bellowing roar produced by their respiratory breathing ports to intimidate other competitive consumers away from food sources.

Body Patterns by Caste

Workers Workers are very strong (3d6), mass up to 200kg and are up to 4m long. They have short triple jointed tails which have a small spade left from what was the ovipositor. Workers have two triple jointed power arms with two fingers and a grasping thumb, which are all that evolutionarily remain of claws. This forward pair of long arms retain extremely effective and efficient brachiation which was useful where they came from. The power arms have good grip strength and the entire body mass can be suspended easily from one hand hold. They are great climbers as a result, if what they are climbing can support their mass. The second set of limbs can be used as legs or arms as needed and the rear pair of legs are the primary locomotion. Workers walk or use a pattern described as skipping by a science team observer – shortly before he was eaten.

Queens

Slave queens have diminished limbs which can no longer support their bloated egg laying bodies.

Males

In the modern era, usually, only males have wings.

Thinkers

Thinkers have several psionic powers and mass 50kg and are 2m long. They have four fine detail manipulator arms, each with delicate three fingered hands, their rear legs and tails form a stable tripod platform for them to stand. They jump and leap in hopping bounds when they move. Their telekinesis helps them land and manipulate objects as well. Thinkers have short triple jointed tails which have a small spade left from what was the ovipositor.

Warriors

The current version of the warrior caste is more asymmetrical than the other castes. These are typically sterile or sterilized females. They grow massive, up to 400kg and are 3m long from the tip of the cranial pod rostrum to the tip of the tail. They have the two forward power arms and freakish strength (4d6), fine motor skills are lacking (1d6 dexterity), and endurance is epic (3d6). Feeding for all castes moved to the ventral surface, held anteriorly. The left middle arm of the warriors is a huge sweeping claw. This dense calcified blade is equal to a broadsword in combat. They wield this blades with lightning fast triple jointed efficiently. They make broad slicing curved attacks while circling to either side around their opponents. The right middle arm is diminished and grasps and holds the weapon arm. The sword fits into a lateral groove across the lower thorax above the segmentation of the abdomen. The thick integumentary layers are equal to mesh armor in the full grown adult warriors. Because of the arrangement of their combat arm and its tiny ally, they have trouble feeding themselves. Modern military formations fit them with a feeding device with tubes and pumps that port with the opening under a sterile seal.

Senses

• Energy: V-XX-SPB. Mavuzo vision. Color sensitivity is shifted towards the ultra-violet.
• Vibration: H-XX-XX. Mavuzo aural perception. They can hear sounds at frequencies from about XX Hz to XXX Hz.
• Volatiles: S-X. Mavuzo smell and taste. Determine the chemical nature of ingested nutrients and avoid consuming toxins.
• Matter: T-XX-X. Mavuzo touch. Sensitive to pressure and texture.
• Fields: A-X. Mavuzo sensitivy to electromagnetic fields.
• Auras: P-XX-X. Mavuzo sensitivy to bioelectrical fields naturally generated by living organisms.

Their vision varies, most opt for a filtering UV bias visible light spectrum pattern. The three whip antennae perceive sound, vibrations over a wide range of frequencies. They have tactile powers and are chemically receptive. The antennae process biologically active compounds differently than the respiratory system in the body. The six respiratory bellows in the abdomen move large volumes of air but are not very sensitive to olfactory concentrations.

Characteristics

A baseline Mavuzo has the following characteristic ranges:

• Strength 3D6
• Dexterity 2D6
• Stamina 3D6
• Intelligence 2D6
• Training 1D6
• Caste 2D6

Aptitudes:

The thinkers have changed their approach to the rest of the galaxy. They seek to survive and avoid risks that would jeopardize what is left of the species and its genetic capabilities. Thinkers direct other castes and read their minds.

Movement

Mavuzo are walkers.

Reproduction

Mavuzo have been undergoing a form eusocial casting system for 145 million years at least. They are oviparous. Gender types, and relative quantities, roles and functions have shifted over the course of their development before and after the acquisition of sentience.

Males

Modern males have limited intelligence (1d6). They are bred as a nurse maid/guard dog role. They defend and attend to queens. They can fly and perform are protective maintenance to ensure the survival of the slave queens and the eggs until they hatch. Males have a six meter wing span and mass 25kg. They are 2m long, and half of that is the stinger-tail. They have the modified appendage homologous to the females’ ovipositor which embryonically develops from a pair of backward folded and merged leg analogues. It has three articulations, each with a 300 degree range of motion. This is now a triple bladed stinger. The poisons are a potpourri of evolutionary left overs.

A hypotonic solvent base promotes lycing cellular tissues, it carries depolymerizing proteinase enzymes which disassemble cell membranes and a neurotransmitter stimulant that overloads nerve synaptic gaps. Creatures with circulating body fluids and nervous systems do not fare well when injected with this cocktail. The same stinger has the ability to deliver male reproductive cells. They are non-motile and are absorbed within the bodies of receptive females.

Females

Nearly all Mavuzo are female. For a long time egg laying was distributed among all females who wished to reproduce, following the regicide. A few thousand years later there was a Counter Reformation which involved the rise of the thinker castes. These are the descendants of the renegade females who had usurped the queen caste. Thinkers rekindled the psionic powers. Their intelligence rose (4d6). Their redesigned themselves to be sterile. They fashioned themselves into a collective of mentally networked minds working together. The revolutionaries started breeding queens who were kept acephalous. Huge, blind unthinking egg laying machines.

Their cranial pods are devoured when they hatch. They are built into birthing harnesses which combine bio-mechanical and organic components. This is where they spend the rest of their lives connected to life support machinery. Mavuzo medical technology can kept egg laying slave queens alive for hundreds of years producing millions of eggs as needed. Modern queens are kept at 1,000kg body mass and produce eggs on demand in quantities required. There are kept in a hibernation stasis when their services are not required. They have no rights and play no role in the modern culture and civilizations.

Life Stages

• 0 Infant: 2 years.
• 1 Child: X years.
• 2 Adolescent: XX years. Caste assigned.
  • Career starts at age XX.
• 3 Young adult: X terms (XX years).
• 4 Adult: X terms (XX years).
• 5 Peak: X terms (XX years).
  • Physical aging begins (XX+ years).
• 6 Midlife: X terms (XX years).
• 7 Senior: X terms (XX years).
• 8 Elder: X terms (XX years).
• 9 Retirement: X terms (XX years).
  • Mental aging begins (XX+ years).

Typical lifespan is around XX years.

Development

Throughout their lengthy evolution many castes have come and gone based on the needs and the environmental conditions.

Once hormonally triggered for breeding which only occurs once for each egg laying female, these three vestibules are filled with male reproductive cells. They are transported via the circulatory system to the egg producing “ovaries” and remain adjacent for the rest of her life. The millions of male cells far exceed her requirements. Normal females will run out of eggs long before she runs out of male cells. Mature eggs are 68g and have a thick sticky coating which prevents dissection and provides thermal regulation. Egg slave queens can be artificially reloaded if the need should ever arise.

Hatchlings are turned over for development and cultural programming. Caste individuals learn very little (1d6 education). They are typically grown to fulfill their chosen role. As they pupate and undergo their selected metamorphism the can dramatically increase in size depending on the selected caste. The largest castes can take several years to reach their hatching size. They take one month to add 13kg of body mass and each 24kg size increase is accompanied by a pupational molting.

Full developed hatchlings can report for duty about a month after hatching. In modern hatcheries, pupating young are connected to vast networks of life support equipment and are completely automated organic machines. A brief period of orientation and testing to ensure quality is required. Hatchlings arrive on assignment at about half their final body size as designated for the selected caste role.

Castes

Mavuzo have castes.

• Uncasted
• Worker Caste
• Queen Caste
• Male Caste
• Warrior Caste
• Thinker Caste

Diet / Trophics

There is some disagreement over their dietary classification as they have manifested great versatility of the centuries. Older smaller castes where omnivorous eaters. These in turn were derived from a scavenger reducer. Through much of their evolutionary history they were detritivorous decomposers. They have filled intimidator and hijacker roles as well. First and foremost they are adaptable to conditions, and since achieving and/or being given sentience they have continued to adapt.

There are two openings, or oral seams, connecting to the digestive tract. These are located approximately halfway along the body, slightly forward of each arm root for the middle limb pair. The mouth parts have three plated mandibles forming a "Y" pattern with a 120 degree separation. The dorsal, hinged plate dominates and is larger than two smaller lateral/anterior plates which work in opposition with the other mandibles.

The pair of throats are narrow. Food is torn by hand into small pieces: the left arm feeds the right mouth and the right arm feeds the left mouth. Mastication is perfunctory at best. Food moves to a trio of internal chambers for a succession of digestive treatments. Whilst modern food is processed into small bite-size pieces, Mavuzo still find it satisfying to physically tear up their meals.

All Mavuzo have three vestibules at the posterior end of their gastro-digestive system which shares a common chamber with the reproductive system. The terminus of the system has a three part valve which mirrors the structure at the anterior end. The three plated doors keep a water tight, sterile barrier. Processed metabolic waste products are routed to three vestibules where micro-organisms facilitate the reabsorption of water and recover nutrients. Typically once per week, once all three chambers are filled all the waste is spray-released simultaneously, as a grey powdery dust which one observer described as confetti.

Psychology & Philosophy

Intelligence

The higher brain functions and nervous system coordination is centralized in a specialized sub-organism.

The brain was possibly a separate species which has been diminished in its ability to function independently: an endosymbiotic organ system derived from a colonial parasite species. They have merged to become one organism, yet the brain and the host have distinct and separate genetic information and express different traits and phenotypic appearance.

The brain and stem can be transplanted between bodies surgically. Bodies have limited independent function after the removal or destruction of the cranial pod. The pod enervates the “host” body and controls its functions. The cranial pod is wholly dependent on the metabolism of the body and has lost its ability to self-replicate.

The head structure is a loose, bean bag with a neural matrix just below the epidermal layers. Four circular compound eyes are equidistant around the equator of this hemispherical cranial dome. Eight additional simple eyes are divided around four random axes of symmetry. This entire mushroom-like structure is afforded a very rich vascular supply and the flexible pod and stem tuck into what was an anterior and superior buccal cavity.

When the brain “winks” or blinks, the antennae are erect and sweeping for sensory input. When the eyes are deployed the antennae fold back and lay flat along the plates pointing to the posterior and inferior body axis. A long single central eyelash on each of the three lids is the arrangement. The function of the cranial pod plays a role in all of the species' castes.

Communication

Individuals seldom communicate between themselves. If two members of a caste meet their cranial pods protrude and once in contact and they stroke each other with their antennae to convey meaning. All castes can bellow and yell with loud roaring breath sounds. These signals are not very articulate. Most castes have lost their pheromone abilities.

Primal Drives

Mavuzo psychology is driven by factors common to many sophonts:

• Acquisition (stemming from the need to gather adequate nutrition),
• Preservation (derived from the need to continue their personal existence), and
• Perpetuation (the urge to continue the species).

Behaviours

A number of other factors strongly influence the mental processes of the Mavuzo:

Major Drives

• Motivation:
  • Aspect of Motivation:
• Motivation:
  • Aspect of Motivation:

Minor Drives

• Motivation:
  • Aspect of Motivation:
• Motivation:
  • Aspect of Motivation:

Outlook

Philosophy:

Theology:

Ethics:

Psychology:

History & Background

The Mavuzo are the last holdout survivors of vast hordes of a far older series of civilizations that have risen and fallen.

Origins

Mavuzo are an enigmatic species, or group of species depending on how you look at it. The precursor stock was selected from species found on planets closer to the galactic core by Primordials. Near the end the Primordials had developed vast capabilities for modifying living things to serve their needs.

"Primordials"

Some of this was accomplished by selective breeding, some was genetic manipulation, and some was psionic conditioning to change behavior and customs. Some scholarship and investigations support the theory that the species was developed to go study and observe the area of the galaxy where the Droyne were predicted to emerge. The Primordials became aware through their new perception of time, that the ancients would follow them. The Mavuzo may have been an effort to leave a living ambassador species behind to greet them as they journeyed to the galactic core.

Queens

For much of their history a queen caste was dominant. They evolved into huge bloated egg laying machines. All life in the society revolved around protecting, feeding and caring for every aspect, whim and need of the queens. Queens were jealous rulers and didn’t suffer rivals well. This persisted through most of their recorded history. The endless warfare consumed resources and threatened the survival of the species as weapons of mass destruction entered the mix. A revolution was mounted, species wide.

Part of the queens’ ability to dominate and control all aspects of their subject’s lives were their unmatched psionic powers. They were the only egg layers functioning in the civilization. Some of the more autonomous worker castes began to discover that all members were female and that the queens had been psionically suppressing knowledge of a male caste. It was discovered that all adults of the culture were fertile egg layers. Their eggs were sterile and the egg laying was being prevented by chemical signals the queens emitted and were having incorporated into all food supplies. Once alternative foods were produced by coordinated rebel enclaves, and psionic shielding was developed, freedom-loving rebels began to subvert the path of their civilization and tailor their own evolution.

Interstellar Era

Queens and colonies had dominated countless worlds in their endless search for resources for ever growing populations. The freedom wars lasted at least two hundred thousand years. During that time radical change flourished.

During their diaspora from the regions of space around the galactic core they escaped using organic spacecraft grown in the manner they were taught by the Primordials. The psionically talented manipulated the group teleportation. The survivor colonies of the principality now use conventional space craft technology acquired from others and adapted to their needs. Principality means the primary function, survival above all things.

• Primal ancestors
• Human contact

Society & Culture

The Mavuzo control the Principality of Mavuzo, an interstellar polity.

Their sphere of influence includes the Yarrith system, the homeworld of the Yarah-Dak.

Mavuzo Culture

• Homogeneity C (Fragmented)
• Acceptance D (Very xenophilic)
• Strangeness 9 (Extremely confusing)
• Symbols F (Extremely abstract)

Technology & Trade

Their genetic engineering capabilities exceed most of their contemporaries. Much of their technology is organic and bio-mechanical. Three part doors and valves are common on their ships and in their architecture.

Calendar:

Many of their historical units for time were based on organic cycles of egg maturation and molting periods for certain castes. Some of these units persist adjusted to match the movement of celestial objects in their current home system.

Timeline of Historical Events

They have been a species for significantly longer than most other sentient species.

Astrography

This race is primarily located in the following areas:

• Mavuzog Sector
  • Coldedge Subsector
  • Mavuzo Subsector
  • Riftspin Subsector
  • Siridor Subsector

Homeworld

The homeworld of this race is:

• Mavuzo, a dense atmosphere temperate garden world lying within Mavuzo Subsector.

World Listing

Significant communities of this race are known to dwell within the following systems and worlds:

29 of 29 World articles in Mavuzo

Alto Sem  •  Arride  •  Brige  •  Contolid  •  Dagu  •  Darksea  •  Fastine  •  Garvil  •  Gomorda  •  Ingo  •  Ive  •  Jy Magadis  •  Khesti  •  Krohn  •  Lust  •  Mavuzo  •  Ninion  •  Ositt  •  Ostren  •  Pebble  •  Pelda  •  Pimiti  •  Pul  •  Sardo  •  Syak  •  Tamardin  •  Xerin  •  Yarrith  •  Yesto  •  

startbacknext(29 listed)

References & Contributors (Sources)

This article is missing content for one or more detailed sections. Additional details are required to complete the article. You can help the Traveller Wiki by expanding it.

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Far Future Enterprises or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• Bill Bledsaw. Theta Borealis Sector (Group One, 1981), .
• Traveller Wiki Editorial Team
• Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master Scout Emeritus Adie Alegoric Stewart of the IISS
• Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis), Captain, and Lead Naval Architect Ronald B. Kline, Jr. of the Imperial Navy
• Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science