Ketran
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The Ketrans are a fictional race from the Animorphs book series; they lived on giant crystals hovering above a lava-covered surface. The Ellimist was once a member of this race. The Ketrans were later wiped out by the Capasins.The Ketrans kept the floating crystals afloat by having many of them flapping their wings while attached to the crystal.
Ketrans are winged creatures who have 'quills' rather than hair. They have 2 arms (though Lackofa was quoted to have given a casual wave of his "mid hands" which suggests another pair of arms or some other type of appendage), 4 eyes (ranging in colors like pink, magenta, aqua, etc. - similar to the colors described in their home crystals), 4 wings, 2 'pods' of some sorts (possibly the Ketran equivalent of feet), docking talons, and are highly intelligent. The description provided by the author indicated they may appear as angels, which would fit in with their God-like powers over their games.
Ketran society is composed of many occupations like biologists, technicians, analysts, physicists, astronomers, and theoreticians. The portion of Ketran society that involved the Ellimist was based around a game, akin somewhat to God sims of our video games. In this game, the player would choose a species and make small changes to the planet and to genetic structure, etc. of the species, then see what the outcome was.
It was this game (broadcast throughout space, much in the same way that humans broadcast messages about their society via radio waves) that caused the Capasins to come and wipe them out. The Capasins believed that the Ketrans played with the lives of real species, they didn't realise it was a game (they couldn't grasp the concept of games.)
The last of the species escaped with an experimental spacecraft made from crystal, and spent the next several decades searching for a planet to call their new home. The ship was ultimately captured by a bizarre alien creature called "Father," who physically destroyed all but one of the Ketrans while keeping their minds, in some way, preserved. The one surviving Ketran, Toomin, eventually escaped Father, after absorbing the other Ketrans' minds into his own. Toomin would go on to become the Ellimist.
Due to their lives of flight, Ketrans are instinctively claustrophobic, to the point where they are absolutely terrified of closed space, even when windows and such allow the illusion of open air. (Interesting the Andalites, a centaur-like race, have the same condition; this may or may not be related to the Ellimist's interaction with them.) This is a fear that they must conquer after they become a nomadic, space-faring race.
[edit] Ketran Terminology
- The Crate: The name the Ketrans gave the Capasin ship they captured.
- Dam: The Ketran word for "mother".
- Dance By: An event which occurs whenever two crystals on Ket float near each other. Ketrans from each crystal fly out and meet Ketrans from the other crystal.
- EmCee: A Ketran space exploration ship.
- Memm: To "memm" someone is to send them a message via the planetary uninet; comparable to sending someone an e-mail or a private message, though the uninet is accessed through the minds of the Ketrans and not technologically. Essentially a slower form of thought-speak.
- Deep worms: A general curse-like invocation; comparable to the human phrase "By God". "Deep worms, shut up!"
- Sire: The Ketran word for "father".
- Face-Face: Ketran slang similar to "hitting on" or "flirting".
- Mones: The Ketran term for the phenomenon that is described very similarly to pheromones emitted by females to attract a male. Ketran females appear to have an ability to pick and choose which male they want to 'mone' and subsequently drive him into state of delirious euphoria.
[edit] See also
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