Note: this is an entry for 's sentient-species contest.

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Aidohwedo

Image

The picture above shows a typical aidohwedo specimen, and the faces of four other individuals, to illustrate the species' diversity. The bar of color is the name aidohwedos apply to themselves. Also shown are the aidohwedo home planet and a scale comparison with a human.

Species

Chromoserpens faber
Native name: [Unpronounceable]
Recognized name: Aidohwedo, rainbow serpent
Other names: Rainbow, tailhand, slitherer, snake, worm…

Naming history

The language of aidohwedos is impossible to translate properly. A gathering of the PUNKS (Planetary Union Naming Known Sentients) settled on “aidohwedo” as an official, non-discriminatory name, but the name “rainbow serpent” remains in common usage.

Home planet

Again unpronounceable in the tongues of man, but consensus sets its name to Ophicron I. Earth-type planet with similar chemistry, albeit larger, warmer, and with more oxygen. Second of a series of 5 planets (3 rocky planets and a gas giant, plus an asteroid field and a few dwarf planets) orbiting a double star system.

Biology

Aidohwedos have an extensively metamerized body; that is, it is divided into segments like an earthworm’s. Each segment bears a unique neural ganglion and a heart. The rest of the organs go through the body in much the same way as they do in snakes. The respiratory system opens to the outside by a line of spiracles on either side of the “neck”. The skeleton is jointed, with one skeleton element per segment; it is itself covered with another layer of muscle and skin, such that the divisions are not externally apparent. The tail, which starts after the anus, takes up about a third of the serpent’s length, and ends in a muscular, three-fingered “hand”, the dextrure. The skin has the texture, smoothness, and consistency of rubber.

The head varies in shape, but is generally elongate, with a crest of protofeathers running down it. Two pairs of eyes are present, both with an immense color range: compound eyes and very sensitive complex eyes (the compound eyes are an ancestral characteristic that was never lost in the serpents’ class). There is a small opening for a mouth, which can be closed with a tough flap of skin. The feeding apparatus, comprised of two pairs of stylets, can be extruded or retracted from there. A pair of retractable, three-pronged tentacles, or palps, is present on either side of the head.

The entire body, with the exception of the head, is covered with a complex chromatophore system, and allows an aidohwedo to change color at will. The palette of colors includes millions we can see and many more that we trichromats cannot even imagine. The head, which lacks chromatophores, bears a unique, fixed color and pattern, which is used to identify individuals.

Feeding

To feed, an aidohwedo extends its proboscis and punctures the skin of its food. Through the injection of venom and enzymes and the mechanical action of the stylets, a pocket of tissues is liquefied and can be sucked up by the serpent.

Aidohwedo venom ranks among the most virulent toxins in the known universe. Understandably, other sapients would be reluctant to pick a fight with an aidohwedo, although the aidohwedos themselves consider it poor form to use venom in a brawl.

Reproduction

Aidohwedos are dioecious. Male and female sexes are present. A aidohwedo is born male and matures sexually; then, after a certain point, he becomes female – making the aidohwedos among the few sentient species to go through puberty twice. This system can be found in some Terran animals such as groupers. Aidohwedos can live to an average of 100 years, living half that as a male and the rest as a female. As females are twice the size of males, all large serpents are female, as are all older serpents.

The palps are used by male serpents to inseminate females. The female gonopore, a slit in the neck, becomes active after the second puberty, and is the site of fertilization. After a six-month gestation period (the serpents are ovoviviparous), the female gives birth to one or two young aidohwedos. During their juvenile years, their exoskeleton is apparent and makes them look like large centipedes – aidohwedos react to different cuteness cues than we do. Only after they become mature males does their body become smooth.

Palps remain present even after the aidohwedo has matured into a female, and are used by both sexes as manipulatory organs alongside the dextrure. However, direct palp-to-palp contact is considered erotic, and as such is taboo outside of sexual encounters. Aidohwedos were reportedly shocked upon first seeing humans shaking hands.

Language

The language of aidohwedos is impossible for humans to understand with advanced visual translation programs and AI. Aidohwedos read color, with nuances, hues, and patterns translating to words and concepts. Although languages vary from nation to nation, the most common language is Basic Chromolalia, “spoken” by most offworld aidohwedos.

An aidohwedo speaks by changing the colors on its body. The color starts behind the head and moves in a wave to the end of the tail as new speech appears at the origin. A talking aidohwedo is a dizzying riot of shifting color, and some humans are known to have seizures looking at aidohwedos. That said, aidohwedos themselves hate human advertising, as the colors used recklessly on Earth as read as screaming gobbledygook.

Aidohwedos are incapable of making sounds, other than a sinister hiss caused as a side effect of forcefully expelling air from their spiracles. They can feel vibrations in the ground, but their language remains visual.

As the head cannot change color, it is essential to identify individuals.

Blind aidohwedos and mutants lacking chromatophores cannot communicate. Conversely, mutants whose head bears chromatophores are highly feared, as they could effectively disguise themselves at will.

Personality

It would be gross oversimplification to pigeonhole aidohwedos into a single personality group. Like humans, they individuals can be intelligent, creative, technically-minded, compassionate, athletic, sadistic, depressed, good salesmen, outstanding pilots, responsible teachers, conscientious sewer inspectors… They can be found doing virtually every job in the galaxy that their anatomy allows.

Nevertheless, aidohwedos have a distinct advantage over other races due to their exceptional color awareness and sharp vision, and excel at functions making use of their sight and hair-trigger reflexes.

History and Culture

The history of the aidohwedos is long and colorful, including a stone age, an age of exploration, an imperial age, and several world wars. To cover it all is beyond the scope of this summary.

Female aidohwedos are the dominant sex, occupying most positions of power, fighting wars, and dominating family groups. Male suffrage movements have done a lot to increase male rights, but they still have some way to go. As a result, males are more likely to leave Ophicron I in search of adventure.

A family is comprised of a female and her offspring. Males remain with their mother until they become females; in the meantime, they are encouraged to fertilize as many (consenting) females as possible while they still can.

Clothing is not worn, as it would prevent communication. Some repressive cultures, however, force males to wear a full-body sheath that stops them from talking. Such behavior is seen as appalling by enlightened aidohwedos, and much has been done to stop it, but old habits die hard. Jewelry is sometimes worn on the head, usually by males.

Ophicron I has turned out many scientists, artists, engineers, medics, and pilots. There are also numerous corporations on Ophicron I that produce fine starships, although they have to be modified depending on the user’s species. The Cyanspot (a shortening of its complete name) is one of the most common fighters in the known universe.

Aidohwedos are generally outgoing and open to integration with other sentient species, but they often suffer at the hands of the arch-xenophobes – the humans.

Text and image taken from Encyclopedia Galactica – Human Edition – English translation, by Sagan Books, used with permission.

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