The Tiaunt are one of the first alien species mankind contacted. The first contact happened in 2057, when a small Tiaunt research task force entered the Solar System, after observing the high energy thrust signatures of the human fusion thrusters for several years.
Their homeworld Jerat is the fourth planet of Beta Hydri, about 24 lightyears away from Sol.
Appearance
Generally it is to say that the Tiaunt are resembling dragons of western mythology, with three notable differences.
1. The Tiaunt are an octapodal species possessing eight limbs instead of six as mythological western dragons. While they do have four legs and two wings, they also have a pair of smaller and more fragile arms between their wing shoulders and the first leg pair shoulders, each with seven fingered hands that are capable of very good fine manipulation.
2. While they possess wings, these wings are obviously not meant to be used to fly. They are too small to carry the weight of a fully grown Tiaunt, are far too fragile and the wing membrane is heavily intervened.
3. The Tiaunt have eight eyes. Two big eyes, normally closed, above each other in the center of the face and six smaller eyes surrounding them.
Generally a Tiaunt reach a shoulder (front legs) height of 180cm, a length (from chest to tail tip) of 600cm and a wingspan of 1000cm, with a weight of around 850 kg.
Their bodies are covered by something named ‘Itina’, an organic structure between hair and feather. This fur of ‘Itina’ is generally of brown and green colors in various variations and patterns.
The Tiaunt do not have any visible means of separating the three genders outside of their mating times twice an Earth year.
Biology
The Tiaunt are a non human lifeform based on four nucleic acids, much like Earthern life, but with two nucleic acids that vary from Earthern life. Their cells also make use of larger amounts of cobalt and copper in their structure.
The average life expectancy of a Tiaunt is 135 standart years.
The Tiaunt are, like humans omnivores, but with a largely carnivorous diet.
Brain and Optical processing
The brain of the Tiaunt is split in two parts. The main part, with a size of twice a human head, is located inside their chests, and the center of their consciousness and motoric centers. This chest brain is connected to the second half inside their heads with a thick spine that makes heavy use of copper based neurons.
While this head is the size of a horse head and the brain the size of a human brain, its sorely developed to process the optical informations from the six smaller eyes. This image processing allows the Tiaunt to ‘see’ multiple images/scenes at once in 3D, or a single image/scene with unparalleled sharpness using the six eyes in an interferometric setup.
Biolasers
Located inside the Tiaunt skull are a pair of biological chemic lasers, nestled directly inside the head brain and connected by large vein like structures to a pair of glands responsible for supplying the biolasers with ‘fuel’.
The two large eyes inside the Tiaunt head are the apertures of the lasers. Evolutionary these lasers were used to hunt prey and actually measure distances. Today they are used in all sorts of ways, including welding and as weapons, however their use is exhausting for the Tiaunt. Temperature management
Tied into their biolasers and their placing inside the head brain, temperature management is important for the Tiaunt. For this they evolved their upper limb pair into their wings, actually a pair of large heat radiators, mainly used to shed the waste heat of their lasers, but also to deal with their normal temperature management. Specially for this way of dealing with body temperature, they evolved a second circulatory system, with two redundant hearts, through it is also used by their immune system and as secondary nutrition transport system.
Should a Tiaunt be injured in the wing area, the white ‘blood’ transported through them instantly clots, preventing the loss of this vital body fluid.
