Hiver

Hiver
Status	Major Race
Classification	Omnivore Scavenger
Size	1.5 meters from ground to top of upraised head
Weight	150 kg
Homeworld	Guaran (Ricenden 0827)
Multi-world	Yes
Canon	Yes
Extinct	Extant
Reference	Alien Module 7 - Hivers
Teh Hivorz

Hiver Synopsis

Hivers are a Major Race, with a modified six-fold radial symmetry bearing a superficial similarity to Terran Starfish, who control a large federation trailing the Imperium.

Hiver Physiology

Hivers average 1.5 meters from ground to top of upraised head and weigh about 150 kg. Descended from omnivore gatherer/scavenger stock, they are the most alien of the major races. Hivers exhibit a modified six-fold radial symmetry; the body has a calcareous internal skeleton consisting of a series of rings supporting the limbs and a fused carapace protecting the brain and internal organs.

The head is a modification of one of the limbs and contains six eyestalks and six manipulative tentacles, plus paired infrared sensor organs. The other five limbs are identical (except for slight modifications of the hand opposite the head) and are used as arms and legs indiscriminately. Each limb ends in a six-fingered radial hand. Fingers are very flexible and have muscular suction cups on the lower surface about halfway to the tips. Hiver arms and hands are generally weaker than a human's but are very tough and difficult to injure.

The mouth or cloaca (digestive and defaeative opening) is on the lower surface of the body. There is no sound-producing organ, but hivers do have three ears placed around the neck near the head.

Hivers have only one sex. Reproductive cells are exchanged each time that Hivers meet, using the modified rear hand (the process has been termed by humans "shaking hands"). The cells are kept in a reproductive pouch on the lower body surface where they conjugate and exchange genetic material. Once every forty days or so, a cell will develop into a larva, which then drops from the parent's body.

Hiver planets are mostly wilderness, and the larva enter the wilds, where most are killed. After about a year, survivors return to civilization, where they are welcomed into any nest and begin their education as citizens. Hiver Parental Instinct is very strong, and the young are adopted by the entire nest. (Note that this instinct applies only to the year-old returnees; Hivers have no concern for the younger larvae, and in fact they consider them minor pests.)

Hiver History

Hivers are unique among major races in that they had a complex culture before becoming sentient. Originally, they lived in the tunnels and built-up mounds of the Snohl, a large (1,000 kg) burrowing animal. In exchange for shelter, they gave food. They farmed fungus and foraged outside for decaying vegetation and dead animals as a source of food for the fungus.

Burrowers were allowed to graze in the farm tunnels. Hivers ate the fungus and whatever fresh food they could find outside. Intelligence arose as the outside environment changed, forcing the foraging parties to travel farther to discover new sources of food and fertilizer; foragers advanced from simple scavenging and gathering efforts to complex cooperative efforts of hunting and trapping live game.

Today, fungus remains the staple of the Hiver diet; fungus growing is a highly developed art. Most buildings retain the beehive shape and large underground tunnel complexes of the original burrowers, but they are constructed by machines; the burrowers, known as Snohl, are now reduced to the secondary function of keeping the tunnels clean. Hiver attachment to them is essentially nonrational; they just feel more comfortable with Snohl around..

Hiver Society & Culture

Hive society is highly individualistic. The term "Hive" results from an early human misconception which stems from the appearance of the Hivers' building and tunnel complexes. Nests contain from five to five hundred individuals, who are usually centered around some common endeavor.

While one hundred is an average size for a nest (and was the size in precivilized times), larger groups may come together for some civilized purpose such as large manufacturing companies or universities. Small nests are usually spaceship crews or isolated research parties. A young hiver will spend his first fifteen years in his home nest; thereafter, nest changes may take place as often as a modern human might change jobs.

Because of the nature of their reproduction, hivers never experienced the population pressures so important to human history. The population of the homeworld is now only a few hundred million, only ten times greater than it was in prehistoric times. Predators control the young; when the adult survival rate rises, thus increasing the numbers of young produced, the predator population increases proportionately and the balance is maintained. Space colonization arose not from pressure but from curiosity, with which Hivers are amply endowed.

The Hivers have colonized only those planets with climates most pleasant to themselves; if the planet has no predators that like to eat Hiver larvae, they are imported. Because of the high birth rate, a colony will rapidly fill up to its maximum population level of a few hundred million and will then stabilize. Hivers like planets of size 6 or less, with thin or standard atmospheres and unvarying climates. Hiver enclaves, for commercial or scientific purposes, are found on worlds of more extreme characteristics.

Hiver Social Organization

Hiver society has a variety of governing organizations. Nests may group themselves together to form a city or city-state. Cities may group together to form a nation-state. Nations may group together to form a world government. The worlds of the Hivers have grouped together to form the Hive Federation.

Hiver Government

The Hiver (government) is known as the Hive Federation, a Human term for the loose interstellar community dominated by the Hivers. The Hivers have only one culture and one language; the Hiver genotype (with individual variations similar in degree to differences between individual humans of the same race) is also constant.

The Federation government (if such a term is at all applicable) is mostly concerned with maintaining the uniformity of the Hiver culture and species. This is accomplished by frequent reproductive embassies from one planet to another Members of many different nests will "shake hands" (actually their means of exchanging reproductive cells) with everyone nearby in a sort of farewell party and will then board a large embassy ship bound for a far-off world. Once there they will meet with as many people as possible, shaking hands and exchanging news, art, gossip, scientific information, political views, and so on for about a year. They will then return home for another year-long round of parties, discussions, and handshaking..

Hiver Language

The Hiver language is a combination of arm/tentacle waving and physical contact. The written language is ideographic and is used as a standard language among the races of the Hive Federation. Hivers talking among themselves use all three aspects of language (gesture, touch, and writing) at once, a process capable of great subtlety and sophistication, but unintelligible to the outsider.

Hiver Calendar

In 410, the Hivers began moving the Hive Federation capital from Guaran to Glea. The move ended in 490. Glea itself was settled by the Hivers in -866. The Hiver calendar is based on the period of Glea around its star, New Primary.

Basic Units

• Glea rotates on its axis once in 22 standard hours. This is called a "cycle" by the Hivers.
• The Hive Federation year is 143 cycles, or about 179 standard days, in length.
• Glea orbits New Primary with a period of 358 standard days; consequently there are slightly more than two Hiver years to every standard/Imperial year.

Base Point

The Hiver calendar commences with the year 1, cycle 001, on which Glea officially became the capital of the Hive Federation (IY 410).

Date Format

Dates are expressed by year/cycle; for example: 105/042.

Hiver Technology & Trade

Hiver industry and business excels at communications technology and robot construction. Major exports include artificial and computer languages, translators, robotics, and sophisticated electronic hardware of all types.

Hivers conduct enormous amounts of research, being a naturally curious species, and Hiver mathematical systems are in much demand for their power and elegance.

The Hiver Economy has been described as "an economist's nightmare" and "capitalistic communism" by human writers. It is very difficult for non-Federation members to understand, though it seems to work admirably for them. Basically, Hivers have a strong desire for material comforts, and, hence, the wealth that makes these possible. But they rely on a system of credit in which the individual has a positive or negative credit balance with its particular nest. When an individual changes nests, the new nest acquires the individual's credit balance, either paying to, or being paid by, the previous nest. In the interim, individuals can draw on the nest's accounts for virtually any amount, whether for simple necessities such as food and shelter, or for large material items.

Hivers are known for their widely-ranging merchants, willing to travel the lengths of the galaxy, to exchange in the trade of ideas, philosophies, technologies, manufactured goods, and resources amongst other items of exchange.

Hiver Military

The Hive Federation Navy is the main instrument of military force. Hivers came late to the concept of war and are more comfortable with high-tech, long-range oriented violence; they dislike the personal approach of ground combat.

When ground forces are absolutely needed, other races of the Federation generally supply the troops. Federation armed forces are essentially a deterrent force and are seldom used as an instrument of policy. The Ithklur have long been known as the the premier shock troops of the Hive Federation Navy and are rightly feared as some of the most capable warriors in known space.

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 Mongoose Publishing or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• Alien Module 7 - Hivers
• Supplement 8 Library Data (A-M)
• GURPS Traveller Alien Races 3 (Hivers and Droyne)
• TNE - Aliens of the Rim

Interesting Articles about Hivers

• Serious exobiology:How Hivers could have evolved

External Non-Canon Links

• Federation Development Agency (webarchive) - info about Hiver
• H is for Hiver (webarchive) - an article dealing with Hivers and world generation in The New Era