Species Overview
Name: Deliah
Locomotion: Bipedal
Height Range: 4'7" - 5'11”
Mean Life Exp: 92y
Favored Climate: Temperate to Desert
Diet: Omnivore
Natural Traits: Xenophiles, Claws, Dexterity
Homeworld: Delan
Bio: The Deliah are a race of bipedal mammals featuring large, bushy tails, head to toe fur coverage, triangular ears on the top of their head and short snouts on the front of their face. Their fur coats range from dark gray to black on their under side and orange to auburn on their backs. The tails are usually as long as their bodies are tall and are recognizable by their alternating ring patterns. Some Deliah also have longer fur atop their heads similar to hair in other species.
They are small in stature with most only measuring around 5'6" tall. On Earth the slightly lower gravity has caused younger generations to be very slightly taller than generations born on the homeworld. With their demure size they are also significantly lighter than their larger counterparts. In their prehistory the species spent most of its' life in the tree canopies on their home world.
A subtype, the Equatorial Desert-folk, are largely similar to their common siblings with a few deviations. Their fur is usually more coarse and ranges from light tan to a darker desert sand color. Triangular ears still adorn the top of their heads though they are much larger and act as radiators to dissipate excess body heat during the day. These larger ears also give them much better sonic acuity. The desert-folk lack the ringtail pattern found on the common type and usually have lighter fur on their underside with the darker fur on their back and extremities.
Much of Deliah history is obscured by oral tradition. There are, however, some generally accepted events. Recorded history began roughly 6000-5000 BCE though protocivilizations began before this time. By around 1000 BCE major civilizations had popped up on the major land masses of Delan. Before the transition to the common era, an estimated two hundred and eight large civilizations could be discerned.
What recorded history survived from this time described nearly a thousand years of almost uninterrupted warfare with periods of new civilizations growing before the cycle repeated. In 102 CE the Deliah discovered atomic interactions marking the beginning of their atomic age. Only six years later, in 108 CE, the species was nearly completely wiped out by atomic warfare. In the ashes of this devastation the remaining survivors migrated to the unaffected parts of the planet. Scarred by the near destruction of the entire species, those that remained became strictly dedicated to pacifism and abolished what remained of their militaries.
Over the next two hundred years the species recovered both in numbers and as a whole. Rather than the previous numerous society model this new government would be species and planet wide (what parts were inhabited anyway). Around 400 CE the Deliah would begin to research ways to increase the output of traditional computation (the beginning of the digital age). In 450 CE the first digital circuits were being designed and tested.
Fifty years later they would transition from being bound to their own planet to venturing to the stars. Historical records from this point onward are detailed and extensive. Though they had skyrocketed (pun intended) once they achieved space travel the rate of their advancement stagnated abruptly. Four hundred years would pass before the species would venture out past the orbit of their planet to the closer of two moons orbiting them.
Another hundred years after that the second moon would see its first visitors. A further six hundred years later and the Deliah began to expand further into their home star system. In 1518 CE, a nearly millennium long species wide longing for another intelligent companion would come to a head. With the newly mastered hyper-drive the first test of the technology would be a search of the stars for intelligent life. Used to extreme wait times they would press on for almost six hundred more years before they encountered Humanity.
Today the Deliah are considered by humans to be both wise from their extensive history but very strange for their aversion to violence and their extreme curiosity. Nearly two thirds of Deliah will either have a life partner who is a human or will have had a human partner at some point in their lives. Almost immediately after the foundation of the Coalition Deliah couples would adopt record setting numbers of human children. Almost all who immigrated to human worlds would adopt either human names or human words for places or ideas. Beyond names many Deliah would adopt the local culture when moving to human worlds. Many would go as far becoming citizens of the local countries where they would reside.
