Dagonite

Dagonite
Status	Minor race
Classification	Omnivore/eater
Size	2.2 m
Weight	150.0 kg
Homeworld	Reading Gaol/Tribeca (Beyond 1034)
Multi-world	No
Canon	No
Extinct	Extant
Reference	Peter Gray

Pseudoamphibian sentient species native to Reading Gaol/Tribeca (Beyond 1034).

Physiology

Dagonites are huge hexapods, 2.2 meters in length, descended from semi-aquatic omnivore/eater ancestors. They possess serpentine, flexible bodies covered in overlapping armor plates.

• They have powerful claws for digging and killing prey alike.
• The Dagonites are colonial creatures that live in colonies burrowed out of moist soil, composed of tunnels that twist and turn for kilometers.
• They are air breathers, and are extremely sensitive to industrial pollution, which has limited their advancement.
• They also prefer darkness, and many Nurturers are agoraphobic. Their night-vision is excellent, as is their sense of smell.
• Dagonites are not known to possess any kind of psionic abilities, though they have no difficulty with other creatures having such abilities.

History

The Dagonite were first contacted by the Nakrisian humans early in the Imperial period, and trade between them became the basis for the founding of the Nakris Confederacy.

• When they were contacted by the Nakris humans, the Dagonites were stuck at TL 3. The Nakris provided non-polluting technologies that jumpstarted their development, and they reached TL 12 by 1100. They had, and still have, close ties with the Nakris, and their curiosity made them somewhat xenophilic, though they rarely traveled beyond either their homeworld or the Nakris Confederation. The current Ihatei occupation of their homeworld is a lamentable turn of events, though they made an alliance with the Tralyeaeawi clan, and they are caught in an ascending spiral of warfare with the Aokhalte clan and its allies.

Society & Culture

Dagonite society is caste-based, primarily between professions and secondarily between genders.

• Their social interactions are complicated, a reflection of their constant attempts to assert their group standing. As such they do not form firm family associations, preferring to deal with the group as a whole.

Social Organization

Government: Dagonite Reproductive

The Dagonite are divided into three sexes:

• Male
• Reproducing female
• Nurturing female.

The young are born live, in large litters of twenty to thirty specimens. Like the Hivers, the Dagonite young are not considered to be sentient, and are expelled into Dagon’s wilderness to fend for themselves. The surviving young are brought back into the community, and are both raised and mentored by the nurturers.

• It is the nurturer's task to determine the potential of the young, and put them into their proper place.

Government & Law

Nurturers are considered casteless, forming a leadership class that is entirely self-contained.

• Nurturers are recruited from the ranks of the Reproducers, whose own members study intensively in hopes of becoming Nurturers someday. Nurturers limit their numbers through pheromone secretions that suppress the expression of genetic traits within other normal females: the death of a nurturer signals other reproducers to begin developing. Usually there is more than one new nurturer, and the candidates must compete before their new peers, in tests of strength, judgment and knowledge; the loser is put to death.
• Nurturer politics are complicated to the point of opacity.

Reference

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.

• Peter Gray - Beyond Library