Llyrnian

Starport	X	No Starport
Size	0	Asteroid/Planetoid Belt
Atmosphere	0	Vacuum
Hydrographics	0	Desert World 0%
Population	0	Barren (0)
Government	0	No Government structure
Law	0	No Law
Tech Level	0	Pre-Industrial (primitive)

Primary Star

Atmosphere

Off-world presence

Yes

Zoetic individuals

Yes

Source

Reference

Humaniti 70.

Canon

Yes

Also see

TBD

The Llyrnians are a technologically sophisticated sophont species.

They are a Minor Non-Human Race with a Non-humanoid appearance.

Description (Specifications)

The Llyrnians are a minor race from Llyrn (Massilia 0931), and are members of the Duchy of Shiwonee. By tradition the Llyrians serve as security troops on Geonee and Imperial ships.

One minor alien race plays an important role in the Geonee Confederation. Its homeworld, Llyrn (0931 D333AA7-A Na Po HiPop 933 F8 VI) is a cold world, a satellite of a gas giant orbiting a small star. Its upper crust is full of huge natural caves. Life appeared on these caves around geothermal energy sources, and most of the native life forms are subterranean, cave-bound or tunnel-dwellers.

Physiology & Environment (Ecology)

The Llyrians are troglobyte (tunnel dwellers) with a trilateral symmerty, with three arms ending in tough claws and bodies covered with an even harder natural armor.

Life processes are mostly based on sulfur consumption for energy production, leaving sulfur-rich waste products. The higher life forms in the planet, such as the Llyrnians themselves, have in addition a secondary metabolism which uses oxygen from the atmosphere to convert the waste products back to organosilicates and sulfur. This latter process produces SO2 The Llyrnians are based on a trilateral symmetry, with three "legs" on the bottom part of a cylindrical "body" from which three "arms" spread. Three "mouths" open under the arms for feeding purposes. The body is covered by a tough external coat made of organosilicates, and the arms end in tough claws. The Llyrnians dig the tunnels "upwards" using all three claws. They are able to make the arms and claws vibrate in order to loose the rocks.

The main sensorial organs are three "ears" built into the arms, which give Llyrnians a broad vibration-perception which makes them able to sense both vibrations in the rocks in which the tunnels are drilled, and the faint noises that are transmitted by the very thin atmosphere. Also, three vibrating membranes on the upper part of the body give them a limited "sonar" capability.

The body ends in a "head" which holds the secondary sensorial organs, basically three breathing orifices which also function as smelling "noses" and are able to produce noises for communication, and a visual band which circles the whole head. The vision centers on the infrared part of the spectrum.

The Llyrnians biology is based on a triploid genetic system. They have three sexes, usually referred to as "Warrior", "Delver", and "Feeder". Feeders give birth to one or two newborns (almost always of the same sex) after a gestation period of 112 standard days.

The average weight of a Llyrnian is 60 kilograms for Warriors and Delvers and 80 for Feeders. The average height is 1.5 meters for the three sexes.

Psychology & Philosophy (Mindset)

Llyrn (0931 D333978-9): Homeworld of the Llyrnian minor alien race. The Llyrnians are tunnel-dwellers based on trilateral symmetry, whose main sense is a broad range vibration perception. Of their three sexes (Feeders, Delvers, and Warriors), the Warriors were traditionally contracted by other races (specially the Geonee) as ship troops or marines. Used to low-G and with a vision that centers in the infrared part of the spectrum, the Llyrnians are fearsome in ship boarding actions.

History & Background (Dossier)

The Llyrnians were first contacted in year -9070 by the neighboring Geonee. Llyrn was then at TL–3, but the population had already exceeded the one thousand millions figure.

The Geonee contacted Llyrn sporadically and helped the Llyrnians to upgrade their technology, introducing heavy machinery which allowed the Delvers to build larger and deeper tunnels. Over the following centuries, the Delvers acquired more and more technical knowledge, and a population explosion occurred.

In -4900, the Geonee were defeated by the Vilani and incorporated into the Ziru Sirka. The Llyrnians, then at TL 7 in environment control and heavy machinery, experienced a technological regression. Although they were formally also incorporated into the Ziru Sirka, the few Vilani who ever ventured into the tunnels never came back, and Llyrn was, for all practical purposes, interdicted. Geonee historians speculate with the possibility that some Geonee refugees spent their entire lives in Llyrn as technical advisors.

In -2235, the Nth Interstellar War between the Solomani and the Vilani made the Geonee revolt against the Vilani. During the war, thousands of Llyrnians were used by the Geonee as starship troopers, thanks to an agreement with the Supreme Delver, in exchange for heavy machinery. The effectiveness of the Llyrnians in boarding operations and infiltration operations was fearsome. Low-G adapted and relying in vibration perception, infrared vision, and sonar, the Llyrnian Warriors easily beat the humans in a fight on the corridors of a boarded starship, when the light goes off and the artificial gravity fails. In addition, the Llyrnians' vibrating claws easily drill big holes through vacc suits, and have some possibility of breaking even combat armor. The Geonee were able to capture hundreds of Vilani starships thanks to the Llyrnian troops. The Nth war started a tradition of using Llyrnian Warriors as Marines in Geonee ships.

In -2200, the Rule of Man created the Geonee Autonomous Region, which included the Geonee worlds and Llyrn. Llyrn reached TL–8 and a population of dozens of thousands of millions.

In -1776, the Long Night started. Llyrn fell to TL–5 in a few centuries, but although most tunnels had to be abandoned when the environmental controls failed, the planet managed to retain a population over ten thousand of millions.

In -177, Llyrn was recontacted by the recently founded Second Geonee Confederation. Geonee technical advisors and heavy machinery were once again exchanged for Llyrnian Warriors.

A century later, the Geonee Confederation offered membership to Llyrn, but the Supreme Delver declined the offer. Nevertheless, in -81, a full Confederation Embassy was established at Llyrn, and, in year -73, a detailed commercial treaty was signed. Llyrn slowly became a Client State of the Geonee Confederation.

In Year Zero, Llyrn retains, from the commercial point of view, a heavy dependence from the Geonee Confederation. At TL–10 and with an incredible population in excess of ninety thousand of millions, the planet is an excellent market for machinery and agroproducts. On the other hand, Llyrnian Warriors can be found not only in the Geonee service, but also working for other planets or corporations. And not only as starship troopers, but also doing ground work in Low Gravity worlds, for example in Kiimda (world), the conquered colony of the Geonee Confederation. Llyrnian Delvers also work in several worlds with underground environments, for example in the Geonee world of Dreva (world).

The commercial balance of Llyrn is only equilibrated thanks to the long-term contracts of Warriors and Delvers out of Llyrn, all of which have to be negotiated through the Supreme Delver or its representatives.

Major Historical Events Timeline: 1105

These are some of the more important historical events that have affected this polity:

(-9070): First contact between Llyrnians and Geonee
(-4900): Geonee defeated by Vilani and absorbed into Ziru Sirka
(-2235): Geonee revolt against Vilani
(-2200): Rule of Man creates Geonee Autonomous Region
(-1776): Llyrnian technological degradation during Long Night
(-177): Llyrnians re-contacted by Second Geonee Confederation
(-77): Supreme Delverate turns down Geonee Confederation membership
(-73): Commercial Treaty ratified between Llyrnians and Geonee
(0): Llyrnians are an effective client state of the Geonee Confederation

Culture & Society (Ethnology)

The Llyrnian society is built upon the community, a group ranging between a few hundreds and ten thousand individuals of the three sexes. The community leader, always a Delver, has almost absolute powers. The members of the community instinctively accept its authority.

The measure of the power of a community is the extent of the tunnels and caves it controls. So, Delvers are constantly planning new tunnels while taking care of the stability of already settled ones, while Warriors perpetually try to capture those belonging to rival communities, while defending the own settlements. The "tunnel fights" are ruthless battles fought in narrow, dark tunnels. The Warriors rely heavily on their vibration perception, infrared vision and their sonar sense during the fights.

Social Organization: 1105

Llyrnian society is divided into three, distinct castes:

Dwellers
Feeders
Warriors

Genders serve as the asis for the Llyrnian caste system and are specialized. Warriors defend the community, Delvers build the tunnels and Feeders take care of the children.

Government & Politics (Leadership)

The planet has been ruled as a whole by a central authority, known as the Supreme Delverate, as long as historical records exist. This central government takes the form of a Charismatic Dictatorship in the person of the Supreme Delver, which is designated by the previous one among the leaders of the most influential communities. Succession takes place when the Supreme Delver reaches an advanced age.

The Supreme Delver does not usually interfere with the fights between the communities, as long as they do not evolve into large-scale wars through alliances and coalitions of communities.

During millennia, the dense network of tunnels of Llyrn's crust was under the rule of a single leader, the Supreme Delver. When the Virus struck, most of the deep tunnels, were abandoned, due to failure of the environmental controls upon which its inhabitability depended. Roughly 25% of the tunnels, though, were inhabitable without any environmental control. Unfortunately, most of the major food production centers were located in the deepest tunnels, and thousand of millions of survivors quickly died from starvation. Adding insult to injury, the survivors of the Llyrnian race had to fight an epic battle against the uncountable numbers of heavy robotized machines which helped the Delvers to maintain the old tunnels and drill new ones.

Government Structure: 1105

Please see Supreme Delverate for more information.

Worlds & Sectors (Astrography)

This race (sophont species) is primarily located in the following areas:

Massilia Sector
- Shokee Subsector

Homeworld: 1105

The homeworld of this race (sophontic species) is:

Llyrn (world)

World Listing: 1105

Significant communities of this race (sophont species) are known to exist within the following systems and worlds:

2 of 2 World articles in Llyrnian

Dreva • Llyrn •

startbacknext(2 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.

Loren Wiseman, Jon F. Zeigler. Humaniti (Steve Jackson Games, 2003), 70.
EXTERNAL LINK: BARD PAPER: CARI9001 by Author: Carlos Alos-Ferrer
EXTERNAL LINK: BARD PAPER: OPAL5005 by Author: Carlos Alos-Ferrer
Traveller Wiki Editorial Team
Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science