Citinian(s)

A race of sapient and humanoid aliens that sit atop the galaxy’s power structure, they are the most influential of all civilizations. With the longest lifespans in the galaxy, most living well into their three thousands, Citinians have a relatively slow cultural aging, though their physical aging is much more rapid and comes in bursts. They have the galaxy’s most powerful military and hold a monopoly on hydrogen and anti-hydrogen production which most civilizations use as a primary power source.

Biology
The following section is dedicated to the understanding of basic genetic information and the evolution of the Citinian species.

Genetics
Typically standing at just over two meters (205cm on average) and an average weight of 90kg, Citinians have a very human-like appearance, a species used to base most genetic judgments off of. Xenobiologists take much interest in their natural ability to notice motion at a much more acute ratio than other sapient species, and the understanding that Citinian eyes can observe a wide view of the electromagnetic spectrum which means that their perception of colors is relatively larger than most average species. Hearing, however, is much less acute than other sapient creatures with their average rate of hearing between 10Hz and 15KHz (different from the human audio range of 20Hz to 20KHz) which typically means that, though they can hear and understand the speech of a human, they cannot hear certain things that humans would be able to detect at much higher audio frequencies.

Skin pigmentation is similar to the human OCA2 allele (similar to Southeast Asian skin pigmentation) due to exposure to their star’s levels of ultraviolet radiation. The darker color of their rough skin, similar to that of a calluses human, allows them to be exposed to their star’s light and life-giving warmth without posing any threat to their skin or nervous system. A mostly redundant nervous system allows Citinians to withstand a higher pain threshold than humans without experiencing any sort of blurred vision, unconsciousness, or crippling effects. Memory in the Citinian species is highly acute and based mostly on visual recognition with a very strong presence of eidetic memory in most members of the race. They can visually remember most things they see or read within seconds and hold onto it in a vivid, almost lifelike, sense.

Their cardiovascular systems and digestive systems are very similar to that of humans, though their heart holds an extra two chambers due to its need to process and pump much higher amounts of oxygen to the body. Lungs that are almost twice the size of a human’s intake much larger breaths and capture almost 200% more oxygen than a human can in a single breath which allows for a much higher efficiency in the respiratory and cardio systems. At the center of their nervous system is a brain weighing in at an average of just over 2kg (half a kilo more than a human brain) with a much more active conscious mind specialized in visual and audio reception and reaction. Predators by nature, the Citinian species evolved on a very hostile world, where, until the development of gunpowder, they were not the apex predator; due to this fact, the species developed rapid reaction times and hypersensitivity to movement and changes in their surrounding temperature and the slightest sounds. The audio-production center of the Citinian brain is also much larger than a humans, allowing for more specialized understanding and faster production/perception of audio sounds which ties in with a species-wide language known as Sanäan which most Citinians today speak at least on a conversational level. Finally, Citinian diets are strictly omnivorous and rely heavily on water-based meats (like fish) as well as nuts and fruits to give them the calories they need to survive. Meals are typically very close together, as Citinians will eat roughly ten meals a day (every three hours), each one having about five hundred calories to it. This means that they cannot go long without eating before the body begins to shut down or weaken, burning fat reserves and muscle content to energize the body. It is needed for a Citinian to eat often and consume foods high in sugars and proteins to stay fit and healthy.

Lifespans
Citinians live the longest natural life of any species in the galaxy with an average span ranging from 2,500 to 3,500 GSYs (or roughly 3,400 to 4,800 Earth Years). Over the course of this long life, Citinians go through four very distinct stages of growth. The Childhood Stage is the first thirty years of the Citinian’s life during which they reach physical maturity at a relatively fast rate. They are culturally seen as young children until they reach this age, typically living with parents and attending early-schooling. They learn language in this stage, grow to their full height, and find a place in their Clan. Sexual maturity for females is reached at the age 25 while males do not reach sexual maturity until well into their 40s, which is the very early Adolescent Stage.



The second stage, or Adolescence, is when Citinians grow from mere children to young adults. Males during this stage will typically mate with females of either the Childhood or Adolescent stages and produce up to fifteen offspring before they reach cultural adulthood at the age of 100. --- Pregnancies last for roughly two years and are typically very slow in progression. One child is birthed and breast fed by its mother until it reaches its first year during which it begins to grow and learn as a child. Males will typically have two or three mates that they maintain highly-intimate and close relationships with, the first of which is referred to culturally as the “'own’mëam” which, in Sanäan, literally translates to “One to Love” but can more affectionately be translated to “True Love”. Mating in the Citinian culture, however, is limited to the strongest of males as females will only mate with one male in their life!



Once Citinians reach adulthood at the age of 100, they slowly begin to mature mentally, losing the interest in reproduction, and gaining interest in cultural advancement. As they grow, during their Adulthood Stage, Citinians undertake military service, scientific studies, entrepreneurship, and leadership as they learn the skills they need to exceed in a culture dominated by the most fit and most intelligent of their kind.



Reaching the age of 2,100 most Citinians enter the Elder Stage during which they lose their smooth-skin complexion and slowly encroach upon death. Their naturally short hair turns from black to gray, their eyes turn from dark colors to light, clear colors, and their skin begins to grow pale as their body loses its ability to protect itself from outside forces. Typically dying of old age or disease by the age 2,500, most Elders are respected as the leaders of Citinian society as a whole, and are typically members of the higher echelons of government.

Culture
Being part of a highly patriarchal society, Citinian males are expected to hold leadership roles, serve in the military, protect their Clan’s females and offspring, and produce an income. While, in modern society, females have the same rights as most males, males are still considered to higher of the two when it comes to classes of citizenship. Stratocratic elements of Citinian society are easily found as they show much respect to military personnel and most Senators or Governors were, at one point, high-ranking military officers.



In most cases, however, it is very easy to see the fact that gerontocratic tendencies are the most common in Citinian culture. Different pronouns in Sanäan are used to address people, depending on their age difference to you. Those who are older are almost always shown extreme respect, and it is best to create a “distance” between you and the elders to show that they are far your superior. Mostly sticking in tight-knit family clans, kinship is very rare among all members of the race as they hold the family above the society.



<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"">However it is dually noted that Citinians are highly xenophobic, tending to stick into very tight communities in extra-territorial areas. For example, it is widely known that Örlänala, a Citinian district on Mars where the Imperial embassy to the Human species is located, is also the only place on Mars that Citinians can be seen in numbers exceeding ten. They like to remain in an area where their culture is dominant, their language is the standard, and their civil law and government is the sovereign. To a Citinian, being ruled by an alien force is the most horrendous thing that could happen.

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Military
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Navy
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Marine Corps
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Territory
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"">Spanning most of the mid-Perseus Arm, the Citinian Imperial Republic is currently the second largest territory in the Galaxy. Housing 354 planets that are firmly controlled, populated, and defended by the Empire as well as 1,212 colonial interests over an area roughly 5.4Mpc^3 (5.4 cubic megaparsecs or 5,400 cubic kiloparsecs), their territory dwarves most of the lesser civilizations of the Galaxy.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"">Spanning out from the inner-most part of the Galactic Arm from their home star, Oräa – an F5V class star (white in color) with two planets orbiting it, Vex (the species homeworld with two moons in orbit (moons: Citinia and Ilos) and the super-jovian world of Cortha which provides most of the system’s hydrogen fuel – the territory is less developed and lightly populated the further from Oräa that a traveler goes.