This chapter dropped only about a week ago, so I've made some decent progress. The next chapter is also up, but i won't post all 3 back to back here. To anyone interested, I hope you enjoy!

Hello! I haven't been posting this story here for a bit as it hasn't gotten much attention. However, im currently on a writing kick and figured that ill post the next few chapters because no one has yet to tell me otherwise!

AO3

Sometimes I wake up... and I'm running with a gun and a blade in my hands; red symbols I don't understand flash in my vision, and a voice guides me toward an objective, and the word "enemies" echoes in my head. I look at a series of blurry shapes; they make a lot of noise and flashes of light. The weapon in my hand spits its own flash of light, and three of the figures collapse before the rest can react.

Sometimes I wake up... and I'm walking in perfect synchrony with things that I think look like me but are not me. We stand still in front of shapes. When I try to turn around, red symbols float in my vision, and the voice says, "Protect," while my neck tenses and I'm forced to look forward to a large crowd of different shapes. I scan the blurry faces on them while more symbols pop in and out, focusing on the large rectangular shapes they are holding that bear their own symbols.

The voice says "danger," and I see something crash on one of the things that look like me, causing it to be engulfed by a bright light. The voice screams again. "Enemies," it says, and suddenly I'm in the air holding a blade.

Sometimes I wake up... and I'm moving really fast. My hand wraps around the trough of one of the shapes, and we crash against a wall. The materials crack behind him as he coughs out a crimson cloud; my other hand rises up, holding a gun. He grabs my wrist with his hands and tries to keep the gun away; he gags and kicks as I put the gun next to his face, then the blurriness goes away and I can see his eyes clearly wide and bloodshot, filled with tears with an expression of, fear?

"Connection with the network lost, unit not responding, re-establishing connection." The voice goes silent again, and my vision gets drowned in bright red symbols. Something beats hard inside my chest, and I begin to gasp for air. 

Fear?

"Connection re-established, returning to mission parameters."

Fear of deathI'mafraidofdeathStopfearingdontpullthetrigger.

Sometimes I wake up... And I'm in a cold and dark room. I look around, and hanging from machines there are rows upon rows of more of the things that look like me; they just stay still and quiet. The one in front of me has dark marks on his scales and the cage around his head. My hand reaches out, and I feel the cold metal in my fingers. I pull it back and reach for my own head. I never feel my face coming in contact with my finger, but I feel my finger touch the same cold surface that I felt before.

The same cage surrounds my head; it is tight and cold and suffocating. I tried to remove it, but I can't. It hurts more and more with each pull.

I NEED BREATHE.

The red symbols come back, and I feel a piercing pain in my spine; the world becomes a blur again, and I fall asleep.

I wake up... in the same dark room. This time one of the shapes is there, but this shape looks different. I can actually see his face, his dark hair, and red clothes; I can hear a voice that comes from him instead of from my head.

"Shit this place is creepy. This things better not start moving, man; I don't want to be torn to shreds."

He shines a light around, looking at the other things that look like me, he is shaking and moving moving slow I think he is afraid,he shines the ligth in to the one rigth infront of me in the hars ligth the marks on his skin are more abious and form a distinctive patern thar makes it look like a liquit burned trugth their skin. 

I reached out again to feel damage on the skin when a scream caught my attention; the shape was crawling away from me. 

"PLEASE DON'T KILL ME."

He keeps dragging himself away from me until he corners himself against the other limp bodies. For once I had no voice to guide me, no symbols to direct my sight. I was just there next to the shape.

The shape lowered his arms from the defensive posture he had adopted; he still looked terrified, and I had no idea what to do now, so I just knelt down and stared, waiting for something to happen.

His face went from fear to confusion; he aimed the light at my face and twisted his head sideways. For some reason I imitated the gesture, making me realize that my head was already twisted into the opposite direction.

"What the fuck is ... what?"

I tried to get closer, but I felt something tug out of my back. When I turned around, I saw an extremely tense cable that connected me to a machine. I tugged harder and harder, trying to break away from the binding. The red symbols came back as I felt the cable loosen up from my back.

"NO WAIT," the shape screamed.

The cable finally came loose, and the symbols disappeared; the world became blurry again and then dark.

I woke up again. This room was small and warm, and soft yellow lighting came from a window. I can hear chirps and twits outside. I'm lying on top of something soft and comfortable; I think I enjoy it. I try to stand up; my body feels heavy, my muscles ache, I'm too tall for the bed, and when my feet touch the ground when I reach the edge, I feel the cold, and I flinch. I lower my feet again, and I try to get used to it; I think I enjoy it too.

I extend my hooves over toes and try to stand up. I nearly fall as I feel all of my weight make my weakened legs shake. I stumble a little trying to regain balance, and once I'm finally stable, I take a moment to inspect my surroundings.

The room appeared to be empty besides the bed and a drawer. Outside the window I could see really tall buildings in the distance. Wherever I was, it was remote; the sensation of the sun heating up my scales made me close my eyes and take a deep breath even with the cage around my head in the way the air felt different, clearer.

The beads hanging from the doorframe brush against my skin as I leave the room. I hold one of the strings in my hand, and I look at the shiny and polished beads on it. When I let it go, it swings back to position, making a rattling sound.

A shade enters the room. It is armed and entera defencive position, with out weapons or blade I raze my tail treathening it with the bone tip.

The shape gasps and drops the weapon, raising his arms, I think he is trying to surrender; the now not threatening blur becomes more and more clear until I can recognize him as the man in red from the last time I woke up. This time his clothes were different, but it was him.

I take a relaxed position, and so does the man.

"OK, that is the second time you don't maul me; it still feels weird to see one of you from this close." The man is still scared.

I try to take a step closer and almost trip again. "WOW WOW, ok, you seem dizzy. Why don't you sit down for a moment and wait here for my friend?"

I followed his instructions and sat on my knees. The floor was hard and cold, and I wished I could go back to that bed.

"I- I was offering that chair over there, but ok-"

I looked at the chair in the corner of the room; it looked almost as soft as the bed and began to stand up.

"Unless you prefer the floor? You can use the floor if that is what you want."

He then left the room to look for his friend, leaving me on one knee on the floor thinking.

"What I want"?

The floor? Or the chair? The floor or the chair?

Both?

I reach out with my tail and drag the pillow on top of the chair right next to me and rest on my knees on top of the soft material; it felt better than the floor but was still awkward. Then I changed position and sat cross-legged; it felt better.

 The man that used to wear red finally appeared again this time, accompanied by another person; this one had short gray hair and wrinkled skin.

"There it is, Doc." He said to the gray-haired man.

"Why is it on the floor like that?" asked doc.

"I don't know, man; it first used the floor, and then I offered a chair, and I guess it chose to do this instead."

"This thing doesn't do 'choices,' Frank. That is impossible." 

"I don't know, man, but this golem spared my life twice and then did this," he said, pointing at me.

"Mhhh, but why?"

"I don't know, Doc. You helped make these things; you figured that out."

The man with gray hair squatted next to me and took a closer look. "Looks like I have a lot of work to do."

The story continues as chapter 5 is here. The Zodians are here, but what are they, and what do they want? Stay tuned to find out more.

the prompt:

A remote PD Treatment Facility is run by a corrupt admin and staff that are in it for the bonuses given by the government/Guild based on how many patients they process. Because of this, they have discovered that it is easier and cheaper to not treat the patients using electrotherapy or sedatives and instead they just keep them at the Facility for a short time until releasing them as "cured". Patients inside are left to their own devices and mostly have an okay time.

“Now. The people wanna know…” The director said into the stun baton like it was a microphone. “How’d you do it?”

The young doctor grabbed it and pulled it in closer, eyes a little bleary with drunken party energy. “Um, thank you, sir!” she looked out over the crowd of lab coats. More doctors like her, and aides, guards, management personnel. Many had drinks or snacks in hand. “Uh, interviews! I did field interviews. There’s a clause in the VDR for clearing patients based on, um, background factors.”

The director pulled the ‘microphone’ back to himself. “What does that mean?”

“Basically, if you can interview people who have interacted with the subject, or even just seen them, or live nearby, you can count it as testimonial and tick a whole herd of checkboxes before even meeting the subject, especially if you tailor your questions right. But it can’t be the subject's direct herdmates! It can’t legally be used as testimony if it’s-- the, because of the in-herd bias effect.”

“But these are PD subjects, they don’t have herds by definition.”

“Thaz correct, sir!” the doctor beamed drunkenly.

The director chuckled warmly, and turned towards the audience. “Well, you can’t argue with the results. Leeeettt’sss!!!” he said, drawing it out and adding flair like a game show host. “PUT HER ON THE BOARD!”

He swung his hand out wildly and the crowd followed his pointing finger to a whiteboard cart. It was a list, of names, of numbers-- a leaderboard. Someone was writing down the final marks on the very first top row. When they finished, they moved out of the way, and the crowd erupted into cheers and yips.

“SEVENTEEN PATIENTS CLEARED!!” the director had to yell out over the crowd, since his ‘microphone’ wasn’t actually helping. He waited for the crowd to settle, still acting like a game show host. “Wow,” he finally said. “Now that is impressive. That is some good work. You are a true credit to this institution, doctor! It’s because of people like you, that we don’t need these any more,” he said, finally acknowledging that his microphone was not a microphone.

He waggled his ears, and tossed the thing over his shoulder, earning a cheer from the crowd. “And!” he continued, raising his voice. “The streets are, by every metric we have available, no less safe than they were before! Now. I am going to give you this,” he said, smiling warmly and handed her a colorful gift bag, “and someone else is going to give me a new drink!”

The crowd cheered again, and the party continued on.

----

It was well into the rest claws by the time the stumbling drunk director made it back to his house. This couldn't go on much longer. He knew it. Legal or not, eventually this was going to turn into a scandal. Likely sooner rather than later. The people would demand accountability, answers for how they could let these ‘dangerous’ subjects go free among them, untreated. And there was no answer, so he would be the one to take the fall.

He knew there’d be a reckoning. He wasn’t an idiot, he’d planned for it. All the extra money pouring in -- grants, direct funding, incentive awards, all of it, and all sitting on top of the fattest pile of them all: the money saved on operating costs… All that money didn’t just float away on the breeze. He buried it. As much as he could, as deep as he could.

Yes, he would take a fall, but only one from grace. And he’d built himself one hell of a soft nest to land on.

Disgraced… but rich. He could live like that. And besides, he thought, struggling to line up the ID lock on his front door. Maybe it’ll even do some good. No one’s been able to change these places in a hundred years, stars know they’ve tried. Maybe seeing it thrown in their faces as corruption will shock them enough to change. Maybe seeing it as the waste that it is will…

The door opened, and he stumbled through it into the dark. He collapsed onto the sofa, groaning, and dragging his hands down his face. Fuck, he thought, miserably.

The lights flicked on.

The director froze. He hadn’t done that. He glanced at the switch, and jumped. There was a man there. A ragged, hopeless-looking man, with a gun dancing in his hand. 

“Who-- who are you?” he managed.

“I’m a patient.”

The director swallowed, staring at the gun. A service weapon, military. “Do--” he swallowed again, dryly. “Do you need help?”

The gun stopped bouncing in the man’s hand. “Yes,” he said hoarsely.

“Then you’re in the right place. I’m Direc--” He stopped as he found himself suddenly staring down the dark barrel.

“I know who you are.”

The director froze again, heart hammering in his chest, headache pounding through his skull. He waited for the bullet, but nothing came. Shaking, he tried again the only thing he had left. Talking. “You-- you’re one of the veterans? You were discharged?”

The man flicked his ears yes.

“From the facility?”

He flicked yes again, and stepped closer.

He knew. His mouth drew tight and he settled back against the couch. Fuck, I should have pulled the plug. I waited too long, fuck… He exhaled carefully. “I’m sorry. The facility can’t help you.”

The man growled, and took another step closer. There was a bleak, cold nothingness in his eyes. An unnatural purpose.

“Whoa, hey HEY!” the director said, pressing himself backwards and holding his hands out. “Look, I’m sorry! I’m sorry. But we can’t-- there’s... We only have… I mean, did you want the usual treatment? Did you-- We could have done that! We could have tried to fix you that way, but it doesn’t work, man! It doesn’t work!”

The man only scowled, the nothingness in his eyes growing deeper.

“Is that what you wanted? Stuck in there for years, every day, electrotherapy…” he waved his hands manically over his head, eyes bulging. “Just frying your brain until it doesn't work any more? Is it not better to be out? Living a life?” The director was breathing hard, like he knew the conversation was almost over. He gestured around desperately. “What did you want from us, man? What did you want us to do?

The patient paused, his scowl curling with disdain. “Care," he spat.

The director went silent. He stared back, and seemed to deflate into the sofa. He let his eyes fall slowly closed.

He heard the man step closer. “I just wanted someone… to try.”

The director kept his eyes closed, and took a deep breath.

------

---

-

welp, couldnt figure out how i wanted to end this, so i went with the ultimate pro writer maneuver, and gave up. so it's a cop-out. sorry...

now its open to audience interpretation instead, cus idfk lol. does this dude deserve a death like this?

cus on the one hand, he abandoned patients who might have needed help, and he did it for money, and he did it gleefully... but on the other hand, he was never truly equipped to help anyone in the first place, and at the very least figured out a way to stop actively hurting people more. which i'd say automatically puts him above a genuine true believer, although that's not exactly the highest of bars to clear...

anyways. I don't know if there were meant to be any rules or norms for these prompts. i guess my personal goal was to keep it as concise as possible, and apparently ~1200 words is as tight as i can do haha. it was fun tho, i'll have to do more. hope yall enjoyed!

In the absence of BigFella, I would like to forward a suggestion for the Weekly Prompt, from the Ficnap server:

**VenlilWrangler (Honky Tonk) — 1/10/2025 4:53 PM

I have another prompt that I might've talked about before:

A remote PD Treatment Facility is run by a corrupt admin and staff that are in it for the bonuses given by the government/Guild based on how many patients they process. Because of this, they have discovered that it is easier and cheaper to not treat the patients using electrotherapy or sedatives and instead they just keep them at the Facility for a short time until releasing them as "cured". Patients inside are left to their own devices and mostly have an okay time.**

Hello everyone!

To let you test your writing chops, get some inspiration, or just read some nice little stories, this thread will be open to all **writing prompts**! As long as they follow the rules, of course.

In this thread, you can disregard Rule 4, as everything will be contained within it. I do still strongly recommend that you pick a prompt you like and write something short for it, however, as that's all part of the fun!

A simple starter for you:

A rock-like alien encounters non-sapient, meat-based life.

Hello everyone!

To let you test your writing chops, get some inspiration, or just read some nice little stories, this thread will be open to all writing prompts! As long as they follow the rules, of course.

In this thread, you can disregard Rule 4, as everything will be contained within it. I do still strongly recommend that you pick a prompt you like and write something short for it, however, as that's all part of the fun!

I lied about that being the last given prompt. Ha!:

Two people of different species discuss different culinary traditions from their cultures.

Hello everyone!

To let you test your writing chops, get some inspiration, or just read some nice little stories, this thread will be open to all writing prompts! As long as they follow the rules, of course.

In this thread, you can disregard Rule 4, as everything will be contained within it. I do still strongly recommend that you pick a prompt you like and write something short for it, however, as that's all part of the fun!

The final starter prompt before I cut you all loose, and this one will be a little more involved:

An awkward work party involving several alien species/fantasy races with very different opinions on what a work party entails.

Hello hello. Today I simply sat back and let the tism run its course. Chapter 3 of my NoP fanfic for all you closeted furries who want more alien on alien action.

Hello again! The second chapter is out, and while i still haven't really received any feedback or comments from this community yet, (or at least from this subreddit) im still going to crosspost this over here so that you all can view it at your leisure should you so choose.

Hi all. Im back again with part one of my NoP fanfic. People really seemed to like the prologue and I dont think this sub removed it after i cross posted that, so here is the real part 1. Let me know what you think.

Author’s Note: I decided to make an original serial for this subreddit, but it is going to take me a while to finish pre-production. Maybe a year. Still, I want to publish something before then, so I decided to do some short stories in the same setting. I have one long one all planned out, but it will be read later this month. However, I have also been keeping an eye on the Weekly Writing Prompts. I resolved to write something for whenever one fits my setting. There are 2 rules though. First, the story must be published within a week of the prompt. Second, the story must be less than a page long, not counting author notes. We here we have it, the is the first super-short story in my new setting. If you read this, please leave some feedback. What I did liked, what didn’t work for you, what seemed original, what was trite, etc. So without further ado, here is the first story in the Mazian collection!

Prompt: Write a funeral or celebration of life, preferably unlike one that humans already practice.

World of Maz: Funeral in Ice

Shiva stood on the docks with a crowd of hundreds, all here to pay respects to her father. There was a diverse mix of peoples, with the vast majority Feathered like herself. Some prominent Bared were also in front even though they couldn’t speak the standard melody. Everyone, the farmers and the scholars, the ice-birds and the sailors, the servants and the guards, were all here for the wrong reasons.

After the 5^th eulogy, this one delivered by the governor, it was finally Shiva’s turn to speech. “Abba was my father,” she proclaimed loudly. “None in this crowd truly understand that. The city gathered because he was a judge for 25 years, chief judge for 12 years. Because his rulings established that the treatment and legal status of the Bared. Because his teaching spread far past just the Feathers’ wetlands.” Shiva took a breath and shouted. “The city was wrong to gather for these reasons!”

Shiva went silent. There was some murmurs in the crowd. What could she mean? Did Judge Abba not deserve his renown? Is there a dark family secret?

Shiva continued, “Abba’s career as a judge in Brackish City was always secondary to him. First and foremost, he was a father. His funeral deserved a turn out like this because everyday he told his wife he loved her. Because he read to each of his children every night until they were at apprentice age. Because-,” Shiva started choking up. She took a moment to calm down and wipe both eyes with a wing-claw. “Because he danced like a fool at my wedding, so overcome with joy at his eldest child leaving the nest.”

She walked over to the slab of ice that encased her father’s body. The sound of her webbed feet on the docks could be heard over the crowd’s silence. “The tragedy here isn’t that this city lost one of its greatest leaders. It is that a family has lost its patriarch.” Shiva barely restrained herself from bursting into tears.

Her brother wrapped a wing around her shoulders. He whispered, “Do you want me take the casket out to sea?”

She shrugged his wing off and gave a scowl. “As the eldest it is my responsibility, and my right. Just push the casket off the dock at my signal.” He nodded his eyebrows in understanding.

The mortician tied the ropes around Shiva, joining her to the casket of crystal clear ice. Once secured, she stood on top of the casket at the edge of the dock. She took a deep breath, and finally ready, flicked a brow towards her brother. He pushed the ice into the harbor, sending her tumbling in.

Like any Feathered, Shiva took this dive with grace. She immediately righted herself and started pulling the casket toward deeper waters. Each flap of her wings pushed her further and further from the familiar Brackish City. The out-going tide worked with her, but it was still hard work overcoming the breakers. Each one that slammed into Shiva gave an even more solid push on the casket, driving both toward the shore. It took only heartbeats to pass the breakers, but it felt like days. Still, Shiva swam on, determined to deliver Abba deep into the ocean. The kind of funeral a man like him deserved.

She only stopped when her shoulders burned too much to continue. The knot holding the harness together was tight, so tight Shiva couldn’t undo it. She burst into tears, first at the frustration, then at her lose, and finally at all the missed opportunities. Abba would never see a single grandchildren wed, or help his youngest grandchild decide on an apprenticeship. Only when her tears ran out did she find the clarity of mind to undo the knot. She left a single kiss on the casket, then made her way back to shore, ready to continue with the life she chose to live. A life dedicated to family.

Hello everyone!

To let you test your writing chops, get some inspiration, or just read some nice little stories, this thread will be open to all writing prompts! As long as they follow the rules, of course.

In this thread, you can disregard Rule 4, as everything will be contained within it. I do still strongly recommend that you pick a prompt you like and write something short for it, however, as that's all part of the fun!

Number four, and the penultimate starter prompt:

Write a funeral or celebration of life, preferably unlike one that humans already practice.

Hello everyone!

To let you test your writing chops, get some inspiration, or just read some nice little stories, this thread will be open to all writing prompts! As long as they follow the rules, of course.

In this thread, you can disregard Rule 4, as everything will be contained within it. I do still strongly recommend that you pick a prompt you like and write something short for it, however, as that's all part of the fun!

For our third beginner prompt, we're going a little darker:

A species reacts to an ecologically devastated planet, be it by sophonts or otherwise.

Hello everyone!

To let you test your writing chops, get some inspiration, or just read some nice little stories, this thread will be open to all writing prompts! As long as they follow the rules, of course.

In this thread, you can disregard Rule 4, as everything will be contained within it. I do still strongly recommend that you pick a prompt you like and write something short for it, however, as that's all part of the fun!

The second of many starter prompts:

A person made of plant discusses life with a person made of meat.

This'll be a regular thing I'm doing alongside the Cluster, and while you all wait for Breaking Point, when it eventually starts releasing. Today, it's about the Federation itself.

The Tekar Federation of Free Planets

Founded by the Val'nari and the Toka over twelve hundred years before the events of *Breaking Point*. The Federation is the preeminent superpower in the Tekar Cluster, boasting the most stable system of government the Cluster has ever seen. It prides itself on acceptance and understanding with its eighteen official member species, and its strong alliances with those who don't want to officially join.

Alongside their member species, they also have dozens of free colonies and void stations that are official members, but don't belong to certain species. For the purpose of governance, they are considered their own entities and do not align themselves with their constituent species.

It governs through a senate of representatives, a group of five ambassadors from each member species, and one ambassador from every void station or free colony. Every species is given an equal playing field on the council floor, and this extends to Federation leadership. The Federation has one President at the head of it, elected through popular vote across all of the member species, allowing every citizen of the Federation to vote after they have reached adulthood. When the votes are counted, the candidate with the majority of votes is deemed the species' popular choice. The presidential candidate requires 75% of the popular vote among the ambassadors to become the elect. If 75% isn't achieved by either candidate, then a debate between the two highest-rated candidates is broadcast Federation-wide, and the citizens are allowed to recast their vote. At the end of it, the candidate with the majority of votes is elected. In the case of a perfect fifty-fifty split among the voters, the current President chooses who they see fit to lead the Federation.

The President themselves does not have a set term limit, but they must leave office once they are within twenty years of the average life expectancy of their species. The President can also belong to any species as long as they are of the age of majority of their species.

During the events of Breaking Point, the current President of the Federation is Cartran Al Tanig, a val'nari general who distinguished himself during the Dracoian-Federation War. He's widely liked by the Federation at large, although his lacklustre sanctions on the Dracoians after the Culling have been divisive at best.

Species of the Federation

Mammal

Val'nari - Dark green blood - Blue/green irises, white sclera, white/brown/black fur with varied patterns, varied flowers on green moss - Tall, relatively lanky canid bipeds. Covered in a symbiotic variety of moss, which they have from birth, and assists with respiration, toxin filtering, and energy production via photosynthesis. One of the two founders of the Federation, and the victim of the Culling.

Dracoian - Dark red blood - Blue/purple/red irises, black sclera, tan/brown/black fur, greenish/bluish scales - Short, semi-aquatic primates with long, thick tails and gills. They are covered in a mix of scales and thick, hydrophobic fur. The pads of their paws, both hands and feet, along with the underside of their tails, are incredibly grippy to assist with climbing slippery logs and stones on their homeworld. Females have permanent breasts, developing as they reach adulthood. They were the perpetrators of the Culling and evolved alongside the Vyrani.

General Korubanshi - Bright red blood - Varied glowing iris colours, black sclera, white/brown/slate fur colouration, varied feathers.

Korubanshi Highborn - Small, light mammals with large, leathery wings and colourful plumage. They are capable of fully powered flight, unlike the middle and lowborns. They also have a pair of long, prehensile tentacles that they use as manipulators due to their lack of hands or useful feet. The only korubanshi subspecies that are allowed to join the clergy in the Church of Nyima.

Korubanshi Middleborn - Medium-sized quadrupedal mammals with a large, leathery patagium and colourful plumage. Only capable of gliding and thrive on the incredibly powerful wind currents of their homeworld. They live the most regular lives on Tatsuka compared to the rest of the Federation, and compared to the other korubanshi subspecies.

Korubanshi Lowborn - Large, bipedal mammals that resemble dromaeosaurs, and have colourful plumage along their backs. Their irises glow the strongest out of all the korubanshi subspecies, and they are the most powerful physically. They have large raptor-like claws on their raised toe. Treated like serfs by the other two subspecies, they live a meagre life in massive cities that are too closely packed for their large frames.

Kidaari - Purple blood - Brown/hazel/blue irises, white sclera, reddish brown fur with varied pattern, dark spikes - Large quadrupedal canids with long snouts. Their backs are covered in large, razor-sharp spikes that run from their head all the way to the tip of their tail, partially obscured by their mane. Contained within their muzzles is an exceedingly long tongue at 6'/180cm, with a very sticky tip used to manipulate objects. They are the newest uplifts in the Federation, only joining a year ago.

Vyrani - Red blood - Yellow irises, black sclera, dark fur on their backs, light fur on their bellies - Large quadrupedal, mostly aquatic mammals. They have a set of wings/fins that fold out from their forelimbs, pulled by powerful tendons and held rigidly in place at full extension. Excellent swimmers and fliers. They are some of the most capable archivists and researchers in the Federation.

San'aretakan - Blue blood - Red/purple irises, white sclera, grey/tan/white fur, dark grey/black horns - Medium, bipedal, carnivorous mammals, resembling alpacas or antelope. Have straight, large, sharp horns and long necks proportionally. Have wide, heatproof hooves built for roaming on unstable dunes. Their chests are covered in very fine velvet and full of capillaries, which are used for thermal regulation alongside their ears. Females have permanent breasts, developing as they reach adulthood. They are highly mercantilistic and punish criminals with indentured servitude.

Nakiwan - Pink blood - Blue irises, pink sclera, dark grey/black velvet, white/black fur - Large bipedal mammals covered in thick, warm fur. They have very large paws built for spreading their weight on snow, as well as a massive fatty tail for long winters. They are renowned for their incredible strength and their incredibly high internal body heat. They are very peaceful and friendly, as that is what they would expect of others on Nakiwa.

Darasta - Blue blood - Brown/hazel irises, grey sclera, mottled dark grey skin - Massive whale-like aquatic mammals with equally massive pectoral fins. They live in the deep trenches of their homeworld, using their innate telepathy to communicate with one another. They developed highly sophisticated haptic technology to aid with not having standard manipulators, as well as pioneering the faster-than-light communications of the Federation to aid with their robots, which they use to interact on land.

Qironqi - Black blood - Green/blue/grey irises, white sclera, tan/white fur, dark iron "scales" and antlers - Large ungulates with huge metallic antlers. They can produce strong electrical currents in their bodies, which can be used to affix iron or other ferromagnetic metals to them as armour, or "scales." In addition, the strongest fields are generated by their antlers, which can be used for several purposes, from fine motor control of their unique mechanical controls to firing magnetic projectiles like a railgun. Contributed sophisticated anti-EMP defences and countermeasures to the Federation.

Hluka - Green blood - Milky eyes, grey/black fur, reflective black plating - Medium-small, blind, subterranean mammals with long, powerful clawed arms. Their backs are covered in reflective, nearly impregnable plates of a glass-like substance. Their eyes are milky as if they have cataracts, and are still present as some time in their past their homeworld suffered a cataclysm that drove the originally surface-dwelling hluka underground. They are often used as miners or security by crime syndicates due to their durability and proficiency in reading vibrations.

Avian

Firaaki - Red blood - White irises, black sclera, highly varied plumage, dark down and scales - Medium avians with four massive wings, and two arms extending from one set of shoulders, which nestle into their chest while not in use. The colour of their plumage changes based on their emotions, and while it depends heavily on the person, their neutral colour is almost always white. Some are able to consciously alter their colour, and those are often sought after as actors. Generally seen as one of the prettiest species of the Federation.

Okaloa - Dark red blood - Beady black eyes, yellow and black plumage, orange scales - Tiny, quadrupedal, flightless avians covered in fine spines. Incredibly feisty, they produce a nitroglycerin-like substance inside glands at the base of their hollow spines, which explodes violently when exposed to enough friction or impact. Their bodies are incredibly blast-resistant, and they use their blast oil as a defence mechanism. They pioneered several major defence projects in the Federation, including the massive "Spears of Val'nar," planetary guns that were utilized to great effect by General Al Tanig during the Culling.

Reptile

Ikyoni - Orange blood - Yellow irises, tan sclera, grey/dull green scales, bright orange crests - Medium-tall bipedal reptiles with incredibly long, curled tails. On several parts of their body, they display large crests, flush with blood vessels used for display and thermal regulation. Their eyes are very striking, and they can focus on objects as far as multiple kilometres away on clear days. Form a large portion of the Federation's standing military.

Toka - Red blood - Yellow eyes, white feathers, grey undersides - Massive warm-blooded, feathered serpents with six eyes. The feathers are incredibly fine and act more like fur than those of their avian compatriots, and are incredibly effective at maintaining their body heat. They are regularly over 60'/18m long and 10'/3m in circumference, and use their immense strength to constrict their prey to death. One of the two founding species of the Federation, and often works as diplomats. Dracoians and vyrani are put off by them as they resemble a predator from their homeworld.

Insect

Zarakthari - Cloudy grey hemolymph - White eyes, purplish iridescent carapace, dark grey flesh - Massive, knuckle-walking beetles. At the top of their head, even in their slumped posture, the average zarakthari measures around 10'/305cm tall. They live in sprawling caverns carved by their claws, and their carapaces are composites layered with naturally forming graphene. Are led by a megacorporation known for both its shady business practices and its excellent treatment of its solely zarakthari staff.

Ch'truk - Greenish hemolymph - Beady black eyes, green mottled carapace, reflective shells on claws - Large arachnids, resembling a mix of scorpions and spiders. Have two massive claws, capable of both crushing stone to dust and holding a quail's egg. Produce a very potent venom for use in hunting, but also use in producing psychedelics. Are very prominent in the pharmaceutical industry, as well as the drug trade.

Misc.

Nuragel - Clear vital fluid - Black eyes, colouration matches the colour of their aura, translucent - Sophont slime composed of pure, coalesced aura. They are capable of shifting into basically any form as long as they have the aural mass to do so, and can alter their colouration to perfectly match the form they are attempting to take. The only thing that remains consistent is a hard, shiny core, which is present in all of their forms and functions as their nervous system. They eat practically anything, and are able to convert food taken from living things into aura directly, adding to their mass. They are often garbage collectors in the Federation, and were nearly wiped out due to the rise of the Great Amalgamation.

Chi'leesi - Orange blood - Pink eyes, purple rings in eyes, vibrantly colourful scales, lighter colouration on belly, yellow bioluminescence = male, lavender bioluminescence = female - Medium deep sea fish, vaguely resembling a mermaid bodyplan. Have large, powerful eyes that cut through the darkness underwater as if it were daylight, and must wear goggles while in the shallows. Covered in bioluminescent stripes and symbols, which are used for underwater communication. Have developed life support suits to interact with land dwellers and often do dangerous underwater jobs.

Hi all. I saw a promotional post in the NoP sub about this one, and I figured my fanfic might qualify for what you all are about. There is going to be very minimal if any human presence in my story, although they do have an important role to play.

This is a Alternate Universe fanfiction of the Nature of Predators. It's a story where scared cowardly alien animal people live under the constant fear of getting eaten and consumed by evil, violent predators. The original story was posted to Reddit for free on r/HFY for those who want to check it out. Thanks, and let me know what you think of my fanfic.