Library Data:Ael Yael
The Ael evolved from flying arboreal hexapods, which used powerful hind and midlegs to grasp their prey as they swooped from overhead. A carnivore’s cunning, coupled with environmental pressures, favoured the rise of intelligence. The forelimbs’ gliding surfaces eventually became quite serviceable wings (which span four metres), while the midlimbs became both generalised and flexible enough to permit tool making. Adults stand one and a half metres tall and mass 50 kg. [1]
Ael eyesight is slightly better than that of a human. Their visual range extends into the infrared, giving them good night vision, while a light-sensitive lens pigmentation keeps them from being dazzled by harsh sunlight, or brilliantly reflective surfaces.[1]
The combination of low gravity and dense atmosphere on Jaeyelya (Gushemege 0437 B-484655-4), the homeworld of the Ael, permits flight for larger creatures. The planet is drying out and the once-extensive forests have been vanishing during the last 1,000 years. Some few Ael colonies still live in treetop communes but most inhabit the caves and fractured cliff-top rocks that overlook Hi-yayahulae — the Glittering Floor. There are probably less than a million Ael on the entire planet.[1]
The Ael Yael were first contacted by an Imperial mining corporation, which sought to harvest the mineral riches of the Glittering Floor. The corporation’s actions against the Yael prompted an Imperial intervention, with a protectorate established for the planet. The Glittering Floor is still mined but now by locals, who sell the minerals to the Imperial government.[1]
The Ael Yael culture has a rich heritage of recited verse, poetry, and mnemonic literature. They enjoy reading the literature of Imperial peoples, which they rework into Aelan literature types in their free time. They are solitary, shun close contact with other races and always seem somewhat homesick for the craggy cliffs and rock spires above the Glittering Floor. Allusions, metaphors, and similes are often expressed in terms of hunting or flight (‘I grasp your meaning,’ ‘I need to look down on that idea,’ ‘My soul feels wing-clipped’).[1]
They are fierce warriors in combat; in hand-to-hand they can use their tails, wings, and hind-leg talons, along with any carried weapons in their tool hands. They cannot fire weapons from cover, however, and will leap straight up into the air when opening fire from behind cover, exposing themselves to return fire.[1]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Colin Dunn. Library Data (Mongoose Publishing, 2011), 2.
Other References
- Loren Wiseman. "Contact: Ael Yael." Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society 15 (1983): 13-20.
- Gary L. Thomas. Grand Census (Digest Group Publications, 1987), 28.
- Steve Jackson, Loren Wiseman. Alien Races 4 (Steve Jackson Games, 2001), 5-13.
- Jae Campbell. Encyclopaedia Dagudashaag (Signal-GK, 2017), 12.
- Matthew Sprange. "The Ael Yael." Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society volume 3 (2019): 47-51.