Savi

Image: A Savi male of the Ante caste. Original 3D art by Jack Nesbit.

The Savi were an advanced species of aliens without a home world, leading their galaxy-wide scientific research from their Flotilla of ships. The Savi were devoted to scientific pursuits, and studied celestial bodies and other species long before most galactic factions even knew about extra terrestrial civilisations. They quickly learned that they were a genetic product of the Preservers (also called the Progenitors), and even before their nomadic life in the Flotilla, they decided that they were obligated to be a sort of galactic conservationist force of the Preservers' legacy.

Yet when the Savi implemented the Scion gene to their species in the year 2274, initiating the Scion Directive, and witnessing the successful results of their genetically engineered evolution, their ideology about being a conservationist force changed. Instead, the High Council of the seven oldest Scions believed they were about to surpass the Preservers once the Scion caste dominated their species in numbers. The High Council then used the shorter life-spans of the Antecendents to make them unaware of changes to their laws - their Code - and thus enslaved their population by legislation. This, in order to prevent other species from inter-breeding, preemptively hindering any other species to challenge their superiority. While the Scion Directive blinded the majority of the Savi Flotilla about what was happening, progress and improvement as a species guided the Savi in all their actions. This drive was also the reason a select number of Scions decided to let themselves be infected by the same parasites that had taken over Starfleet Command, believing this was their next evolutionary step. This, of course, unbeknownst to the Antecedents.

As a very clandestine species, they weren't known by the Federation or other galactic factions. The only known species that were aware of the Savi were the Asurians, who also kept to themselves. The Asurians called the Savi the Sheromi (literally meaning the “Dark Ones” in their language).

In March of 2381, with the aid of abducted crew from the Theurgy and the Endeavour, the Antecedents learned about how the Scion Directive had put a veil over their eyes by changing the Code, perverting their identity of a peaceful species, and a domestic war broke out in the Flotilla.

Physiology

The Savi were of two castes. After the Scion gene was implemented into their genome, the original Savi came to be called the Antecedents, which were the male and the female Savi. The second caste was the Scions, which were a genetically tailored ruling caste of Savi. The Scions were hermaphrodites, possessing both sets of reproductive organs, and considered superior in all genetic aspects over males and females. They were always given roles of import in the Flotilla. The Savi brain of both castes was larger in proportion to their body size when compared to most galactic species. Because of this, the Savi skull was naturally also bigger, and if they once had hair on their bodies in their evolutionary cycle, they kept no record of such a time.

Their overall anatomy was also quite flexible. Compared to humans, both Savi castes exhibited higher muscular elasticity and their ligaments contained a high rate of yellow elastic tissue, which could be stretched considerably, giving them greater freedom of movement. While both castes retained a residual tympanum as visible ears, they could register more ranges than they did in their species' youth, since their entire heads were utilised to sense air-vibrations, giving them elevated hearing. This also lead to them developing misophonia, being highly sensitive to loud noise.

As an evolutionary defence-mechanism, both castes secreted mutualistic bacteria through the pores of their skin, which offered them benefits of fighting against most bacterial infections. The mutualistic bacteria prevented transient pathogenic organisms from colonising on the surface of their skin, and gave it a damp texture. Due to the high ratio of methemoglobin in their blue and paste-like blood, the skin of both Savi castes had a grey-bluish tint. To circulate their thick blood, they had two hearts, one on both sides of their chest.

In order for Savi to get nourishment, their bodies were capable of processing molecules of carbohydrates and amino acids, just like many other species. But they didn’t cook the eatables. They ate them raw. They simply ate as per their requirement of energy, having lost all enjoyment of this bodily requirement over the course of their evolution. They didn’t require vitamins and minerals either, instead generating mutualistic bacteria to boost their immune system.

Antecedents

Image: Anatomical study of a male Savi Antecendent

The Antecedents - or Antes - were the original Savi and a result of the Preservers (also known as the Progenitors) spreading their DNA over the entire Galaxy, which was something the Savi became aware of early on in their scientific research. The Savi were bipedal, mammalian and had lungs, two hearts and a digestive tract, and they had the same kind of bodily strength as that of Humans, so they were clearly not too different from many other species. Despite how their average height of seven feet made them stand out, the most dominant features of the Antes were their large arthropod eyes, followed by the head-to-body ratio. The large eyes were dark and without pupils, iridescent when cast into light, and the reflective tapetum lucidum of their eyes improved night vision. Male and female Antes had a very small jaw, and a single type of teeth-incisors.

As for extremities, the Antes had big hands and feet, with three fingers and toes on each, all of the same size. Their arms and legs were thinner in proportion to their hands and feet, which was an evolutionary trait of their main preoccupations in scientific fields. Female Antes had breasts as a distinctive feature along with a vagina and womb, and they nursed their young with heliotrope milk. The male genitalia - of both Antes and Scions - had internal testes and a retractable penis that extended when aroused, much akin to other bipedal species in the galaxy. Their semen was black with an oily texture.

The Antes could not share oxygen environment with races like Humans and Asurians, etc, because the atmosphere those other species breathed was toxic to them. The levels of nitrogen in such air would react with their methemoglobin blood, causing central nervous system depression within seconds - leading to headache, dizziness, fatigue and lethargy - followed by dyspnea, arrhythmia, shock, convulsions, coma and after a few minutes, death. Replacing the 78 % nitrogen in common breathable air for most other species, the Savi breathed another inert gas in the form of Neon (Ne), which was breathable to other species as well. The only difference for other species breathing Savi air - also called neox or neonox - was that there was only 17 % oxygen saturation. This would decrease ability to work strenuously and might impair coordination - inducing early symptoms with individuals that had coronary, pulmonary, or circulatory problems.

The maximum life expectancy of Antes when breathing their own air was 50 years, which was considered fleeting and short compared to the Scions.

Scions

Image: A Savi of the Scion caste.

Image: A baby Scion, by Numen.

As a species devoted to scientific research and perfecting the products of their labour, a group of Savi sought to improve upon their own genome by creating a superior version of themselves, and allowing them to further their own kind. They captured and used the DNA of Species 8472 - also called the Undine - to augment their own. Cloning of the altered Savi genome proved unstable, however, with highly unreliable results, so the decision was made to inoculate all Savi females with selected Undine genes. When ovulating, there was at first a 5 % chance that their ovaries might release a Scion egg. As a second setback in the cultivation of their superior gene, it was discovered that even Scion ovaries produced Scion eggs at the same poor rate as Ante females. This also held true in breeding between Scions. One century after the first Scion was born, Scion eggs were released with a 10 % probability. Scions were chosen for roles of leadership because of their superior nature in all aspects, and more Scions were born each year.

While retaining the same kind of eyes, blood and skin-colour as the Antecedents, the differences of a Scion were immediately discernible. Their skin was harder, chitin-like in texture, creating an exoskeleton that protected their internal organs. They had four eyes instead of two, a more insectoid body-structure, which was tripedal and with mandibles before their mouths. They were four times as strong as Humans, over eight feet tall, and had a superior intellect to that of the Antes. They also had a life expectancy of 400 years, eight times longer than the Antes.

Scions required no sleep, able to continue with their tasks without rest and unlike the Antes, they could breathe regular oxygen like most other bipedal species. Their bodies also generated the kind of bioelectric field that the Undine could generate. This field blocked sensors and impeded transporter lock, and they could also penetrate force fields and withstand quantities of weapons fire that would be lethal to most other lifeforms. Even when injured to the point of appearing dead, they could regenerate, which was made possible for them by combining Undine and Asurian genes in their Scion formula. Scions also retained the Undine's powerful internal immune system, augmenting their external mutualistic bacteria secretion, making them capable of destroying any foreign contamination, whether chemical, biological, or technological. Scions did not, however, retain the psionic abilities of the Undine, and transfer of bodily fluids to other bodies were not as fatal as that of the Undine, yet further research was being conducted in that field for future improvements.

While radically altered in appearance from the Antes, Scions were still mammalian in base nature, yet possessing both the male and female sets of reproductive organs. When lactating, the breast tissues beneath their exoskeleton swelled, and their wombs were better protected within their powerful bodies. The Scion phallus was larger and sectioned by exoskeleton plates, to the point of almost causing permanent damage to Ante females unless precautions were taken to prevent this. This was not, however, a prevalent risk in coitus among Scions.

Because of the low birth-rates of Scions, the High Council used the Code to facilitate a higher import of reproduction, and over the time under the Scion Directive, the Savi culture pertaining to sexuality became warped from the consensual distraction from research that it used to be, into a cold, non-consensual dominance of stature. The Code even rewarded the exploits of forced nature, where the stronger preyed on the weak. These were just one of the things that changed when the civil war began in the Flotilla, and the time under the Scion Directive came to an end.

Psychology

Savi were devoted to scientific pursuits, and studied other species long before most galactic factions knew about extra terrestrial civilisations, but the Scion Directive and the gradual changes to the Code, made them loose their moral compass, and they began to abduct other species for their experiments. In the late twentieth century, Federation time, they even abducted Humans for their experiments, but because of the requirement of air in the laboratory conditions, the studies were eventually abandoned.

Emotional intelligence of Savi was very high, to the extent that they only had selective emotions, something which they considered necessary for survival. This helped them to recognise their own emotions and those of other Savi, discern between different feelings and label them appropriately. They used emotional information to guide thinking and behaviour, and to manage and/or adjust emotions to adapt to environments. Before they left their R-class planet, the primitive Savi were more like many other bipedal species regarding their emotional structure. In the Flotilla, the majority of the Savi had adapted to their society's high emotional intelligence. Under the Scion Directive, the ones who exhibited low emotional intelligence were lower in the Flotilla's hierarchy, since they considered uncontrolled emotions a hinder to growth of science and technology. The import lay in exhibiting befitting emotions in different situations, and correct usage of emotion was considered a desirable trait.

Savi evaluated most choices and actions with logic over emotion, however, and if the logic could explain a certain choice or action, it was often considered the right course of action. This was why the Scions and the High Council successfully made the Savi feel threatened by inter-species breeding, so when applicable in their research, the Savi tried to alter the species they 'edited' so that they couldn't breed with anything other than their own race.

Methodical and patient, they had no interest in making themselves known to the Galaxy, for while they might have had subdued many species and plundered their home planets for resources, they had no such needs. Their Flotilla was self-sustained, and in the growing certainty of being able to claim anything they needed, they didn't have any pressing needs of doing so. With their superiority, they needn't take anything, for in their minds, it was already theirs. This was also something that changed with the beginning of the civil war in the Flotilla.

Language

Savi voices were usually contralto in nature: the lowest female voice range of Humans, yet Scions were more of a tenor in range, but the vocal range of the whole species was exotic in nature because of the staccato echo in their tone - a result of their alien vocal chords. Because of their sensitivity to loud noises, they commonly spoke quietly.

Because of their nomadic lives of research, Savi language developed under the influence of other languages in the civilisations that they came in contact with, hence contributing a vast vocabulary. Savi language was written from right to left, their letters being rows of intricate geometries, and phonologically, the language had a complete set of aspirated stops (sounds pronounced with a sudden release with an audible breath). Their speech didn’t use pitch to express emotional and other paralinguistic information to convey emphasis, contrast, and other such features. When they expressed emotion, it was done with their subtle body language, and the usage of their extensive vocabulary.

The true pronunciation of the name of the species was unknown, but the name that the Starfleet universal translator generated was derived from the name of their lost home world "Sa", combined with "Vi", which was assumed to be an abbreviation of "Vigilance" or "Vigil". The combination "Savi" could also be translated to "Savant". The literal meaning of "Savi", in their own context, could therefore be "The Vigilant of Sa" or simply "the Savant". The Asurians called the Savi the "Sheromi" (literally meaning the “Dark Ones” in Asurian) because their research ships blotted out the sky when they first descended on Asuria.

Savi Naming Conventions

The naming structure of the Savi was pragmatic, in how suffixes were gender-based and the prefixes related to the actual name-choice of the Savi. The prefix could be anything, but was often an abbreviation of the Code's name for the word. They had no last names, but they were denominated by which ship in the Flotilla they belonged to. If a Savi conducted his research on the the Precept ship Versant, the Savi's formal name would be [Insert Name] qi Versant. Example names:

Example Names				Code Meaning		Suffixes
Male Savi	Female Savi	Scion Savi		Code Prefix	General Meaning	Male Suffix	Female Suffix	Scion Suffix
Aerand, Aerpen	Aergyn, Aergin	Aerthal		Aer	air	-and, -pen	-gyn, -gin	-thal
Agereand, Agerepen	Ageregyn, Ageregin	Agerethal		Agere	relating to agendas	-and, -pen	-gyn, -gin	-thal
Agrand, Agrpen	Agrgyn, Agrgin	Agrthal		Agr	relating to farming	-and, -pen	-gyn, -gin	-thal
Anteand, Antepen	Antegyn, Antegin	Antethal		Ante	before	-and, -pen	-gyn, -gin	-thal
Archand, Archpen	Archgyn, Archgin	Archthal		Archaios	ancient	-and, -pen	-gyn, -gin	-thal
Autand, Autpen	Autgyn, Autgin	Authal		Auto	Automatic	-and, -pen	-gyn, -gin	-thal
Barand, Barpen	Bargyn, Bargin	Barthal		Bar	atmosphere	-and, -pen	-gyn, -gin	-thal
Beneand, Benepen	Benegyn, Benegin	Benethal		Bene	well, favorable	-and, -pen	-gyn, -gin	-thal
Biand, Bipen	Bigyn, Bigin	Bithal		Bi	life	-and, -pen	-gyn, -gin	-thal
Bibland, Biblpen	Biblgyn, Biblgin	Biblthal		Bibl	relating to books	-and, -pen	-gyn, -gin	-thal
Cardiand, Cardipen	Cardigyn, Cardigin	Cardithal		Cardi	heart	-and, -pen	-gyn, -gin	-thal
Chronand, Chronpen	Chrongyn, Chrongin	Chronthal		Chron	time	-and, -pen	-gyn, -gin	-thal
Cideand, Cidepen	Cidegyn, Cidegin	Cidethal		Cide	kill	-and, -pen	-gyn, -gin	-thal
Cirand, Cirpen	Cirgyn, Cirgin	Cirthal		Cir	around	-and, -pen	-gyn, -gin	-thal
Corand, Corpen	Corgyn, Corgin	Corthal		Corpus	body	-and, -pen	-gyn, -gin	-thal
Cryand, Crypen	Crygyn, Crygin	Crythal		Cry	frost , icy cold	-and, -pen	-gyn, -gin	-thal
Crypand, Crypen	Crypgyn, Crypgin	Crypthal		Cryp	hidden	-and, -pen	-gyn, -gin	-thal
Cytand, Cytpen	Cytgyn, Cytgin	Cythal		Cyt	receptacle, cell	-and, -pen	-gyn, -gin	-thal
Demand, Dempen	Demgyn, Demgin	Demthal		Dem	people, nation	-and, -pen	-gyn, -gin	-thal
Dermand, Dermpen	Dermgyn, Dermgin	Dermthal		Derm	skin	-and, -pen	-gyn, -gin	-thal
Diand, Dipen	Digyn, Digin	Dithal		Di	two, double	-and, -pen	-gyn, -gin	-thal
Didactand, Didactpen	Didactgyn, Didactgin	Didacthal		Didact	apt at teaching	-and, -pen	-gyn, -gin	-thal
Disand, Dispen	Disgyn, Disgin	Disthal		Dis	apart	-and, -pen	-gyn, -gin	-thal
Dynamand, Dynampen	Dynamgyn, Dynamgin	Dynamthal		Dynam	power , force	-and, -pen	-gyn, -gin	-thal
Echtand, Echtpen	Echtgyn, Echtgin	Echthal		Echt	outside	-and, -pen	-gyn, -gin	-thal
Enceand, Encepen	Encegyn, Encegin	Encethal		Ence	full	-and, -pen	-gyn, -gin	-thal
Eoand, Eopen	Eogyn, Eogin	Eothal		Eo	dawn, early	-and, -pen	-gyn, -gin	-thal
Floriand, Floripen	Florigyn, Florigin	Florithal		Flori	relating to flowers	-and, -pen	-gyn, -gin	-thal
Graphand, Graphpen	Graphgyn, Graphgin	Graphthal		Graph	write, record	-and, -pen	-gyn, -gin	-thal
Idemand, Idempen	Idemgyn, Idemgin	Idemthal		Idem	the same	-and, -pen	-gyn, -gin	-thal
Metand, Metapen	Metagyn, Metagin	Metathal		Meta	after, beyond	-and, -pen	-gyn, -gin	-thal
Sclerand, Sclerpen	Sclergyn, Sclergin	Sclerthal		Scler	hard	-and, -pen	-gyn, -gin	-thal
Semand, Semapen	Semagyn, Semagin	Semathal		Sema	signal, sign, symbol	-and, -pen	-gyn, -gin	-thal
Spherand, Sphepen	Sphergyn, Spergin	Spherthal		Spher	round	-and, -pen	-gyn, -gin	-thal
Schiand, Schipen	Schigyn, Schigin	Schithal		Schi	split	-and, -pen	-gyn, -gin	-thal
Tachand, Tachpen	Tachgyn, Tachgin	Tachthal		Tach	fast, speed	-and, -pen	-gyn, -gin	-thal

Home World

Before life in their Flotilla, primitive Savi evolved on a R-class planet orbiting a black hole. A planet of that classification usually formed within a star system, but at some point in its early evolution, the planet had been expelled, which was likely the result of a catastrophic asteroid impact. Many such planets died, but geologically active planets could sustain a habitable surface via volcanic out-gassing and geothermal venting, which was the case on the Savi home world. Eventually, after an unknown amount of time, the planet had locked its path around its black hole, and life finally flourished in full because of the second law of thermodynamics. Where life required a temperature difference to provide a source of useable energy, and whereas the difference between the sun and the cold vacuum of space was the case for most planets, the opposite was the case for the Savi homeworld - evolving under a cold sun and a hot nebula sky.

For despite the name, most black holes were among the brightest objects in the universe. Gas and other matter falling into the black hole was superheated and glowed as it accelerated. Yet the Savi home world, later named Sa by its inhabitants, was at a distance from the black hole that both avoided time dilation and only yielded them a sky of fleeting light - making them constantly live in various stages of night. Their plants were black in colour and the soil was grey because of the dim light conditions. Since the planet hosted liquid water, many lifeforms were similar to those existing on Earth, but had variations in their pale, anatomical features.

After a couple of centuries, having achieved warp flight and depleted all natural resources of their planet already, the Savi developed the technology to harness the radiation emissions of the black hole. Yet their calculations were off, and they accidentally punctured the event horizon. This started time dilation to increase on their planet, temperature increased, melting the ice on the poles. Over the coming decades, the black hole was slowly drained out of existence, but even worse, the radiation harnessing device had been overloaded, and the Savi were forced to become nomads. Their planet, flooded and contaminated by the overload of radiation, eventually drifted off into space anew, and the Flotilla became the home of the Savi.

The Flotilla of the Savi was spread all over the Galaxy, yet considering the distances in space, the presence of their ships - while unnoticed - was very rare. They were seldom gathered in clusters, yet remained in communication over the vast distances on a regular basis. As of 2381, there were 137 Savi ships in the Flotilla, yet the four Precept ships - named the Erudite, the Versant, the Ubiquitous & the Panacea were the flagships of the Flotilla. Because of the declining birth-rates of the Savi, hundreds of ships have been left behind over the past centuries, hidden for some time in the future when they would grow in numbers once more.

Culture and Customs

Life among the Savi was devoted to scientific exploration in all fields, deriving fulfilment in pushing the boundaries of what was possible. Yet as they marvelled in their discoveries, and the Scion Directive changed their culture by altering their laws, it led to a mind-set of superiority, making them feel entitled in all their endeavours. Empathy and wish to understand the motivations of the civilisations they studied had diminished entirely as of 2381, giving way to the sole focus of whether or not there was anything worthwhile for them to find and incorporate in their research.

All Savi were polygamous in nature, and because of the cultural changes to promote higher birthrates and numbers of Scions, mating rituals among them were fierce, in which aggressors of both castes battered those they were attracted to with throaty vocalizations (called song) to win the chance of mating. If the aggressor was rejected, it often lead to physical confrontation and non-consensual mating. Should the aggressor manage to subdue the subject of their attraction, the Code among Savi was that if such forced coitus was finalised, the subject would accept the aggressor as the victor, and conform to the breeding of their offspring. Naturally, the larger and more physically dominating Scions were seldom subdued, whereas the Antes had to conform.

Another thing that the Scion Directive introduced was that while their infants were still in the womb, Savi measured the receptor responses of different parts of the unborn. When assigned their roles in the Flotilla, specialised training was given all Savi that befit their assigned roles. If the receptors were more active in some parts of the intricate Savi brain structure, some of those Savi could be given roles pertaining to creative thinking and planning, and others were given the positions that converted those ideas imagined by the others into reality. In other cases, where the receptor responses were especially fitting for it, some Savi were given the roles of administration and leadership. If a Scion was detected in the womb, they were selected for captaincy in the Flotilla. This system was applied for effective management and to get best out of every Savi. The real reason this was done, however, was to allow the Scions to create a Low Class slave population to handle tasks in the Flotilla that had nothing to do with scientific research.

Savi still followed a 403 day calendar, which was the time their lost planet Sa required to revolve around its black hole. They also lived by the Code, which was the law for the Savi, which detailed both precautions in all fields of studies as well as punishments if one failed to adhere to them.

Nonetheless, their scientific pursuits were not always beneficial, and as they had with the Asurians, the Savi tended to get too far ahead of themselves. In 2210, a Precept ship was studying the cannibal star HV 2112 - a neutron star inside a red giant. They lost the ship to the gravitational pull of the hybrid star. Another incident happened in the form two consecutive revolts in 2312 among the Antes - following the introduction of the Scion gene. They rebelled against discrimination done on basis of intelligence, denouncing the Scions as freaks and a desecration of the Preservers' legacy, worried that the Scions were a step towards another Cataclysm. The revolt was suppressed by the Scions and the majority of the other Antecedents, who had been led to believe that the Scions were the future of their species. The protesters were sentenced through the Code to biological experiments in the Savi laboratories, and the results were catalogued for public access. Before the civil war of 2381, such a revolt had never happened again.

History

Image: A Savi female of the Ante caste

Savi evolutionary history could be traced back to big-headed amphibious fishes on Sa that lived on the planet 470 million years ago, and judging by their own observations, their evolution had a faster rate than most other species. The Savi flourished as a warp-capable species in the farthest reaches of the Beta Quadrant 400 000 years ago, during the rise of the Iconians. Though this time, the Savi had already adopted to their secretive studies of other species, having developed their Ventrak cloaking technology shortly after achieving warp flight.

Yet the growing aches of a society such as the Savi was harmful for them. During the course of their long history, they experienced nine Cataclysms, which had different causes but were all devastating to both their survival and their ability to retain their scientific discoveries. The loss of their home planet was such a Cataclysm, but only the seventh of such an event, in which their scientific discoveries went too far, and decimated their numbers. In five of these Cataclysms, even their Archives were affected, and with their short life expectancy, much of the knowledge lost was forever gone. At some points, a Cataclysm could even be noticed by the species the Savi studied, in the form of a supernova, the creation of a volatile nebula, or some other unexplained event. Still, despite these upheavals, and the need to re-discover many things, they survived, and continued their research. During the millennia the Savi also saw many other civilisations rise, fall and rise again.

After each Cataclysm, while some designs survived, the Savi developed new starships for their Flotilla - each with a specified purpose. Some were made and sent to study celestial objects and others were designed to study life on other planets. This proved fortunate after the Seventh Cataclysm, when they were forced into exile on their ships. Their thirst for technology and innovations destroyed their home planet in 14 392 BC (Federation calendar), and since then, they didn't settle on any other planets, and after each Cataclysm, the Savi formed more disciplinary rules and regulations to prevent any more failures of the same magnitude. This growing, adapting legislation was simply named the Code, though even the Code had to be rewritten if their Archives were lost.

After loosing Sa, the Savi scattered their ships far and wide across the galaxy, yet remained in contact through their advanced communication technology, rendezvousing only to commune physically and update the Code because of new discoveries. Over fourteen thousand years passed, along with six more Cataclysms, before their life led on the ships of the Flotilla began to take its definitive, biological toll. Their biology was not fit for a such a sterile life away from Sa, and birth-rates had diminished to a catastrophic rate. With their home planet lost, they were a slowly-dying race, and judging by their calculations, it would take them five hundred years to regain the biological resilience they had lost if they settled on a planets akin to Sa.

Yet as they searched for a solution for their own survival, they had spent centuries observing and studying ‘at risk’ species. They determined that a species catalogued as "Asurians" also had an extremely low survival rate on their current planet. In fact, they should have gone extinct thousands of years past. It puzzled the Savi how long the Asurians clung to life, until they discovered the properties of their Velsren sac. Having deemed the Asurians as a primitive race, and driven by their need for survival, an isolated group of Savi did something they wouldn't normally do before the implementation of the Scion Directive, and removed as many Asurians as they could accommodate on three Sphere ships, which served as the laboratories in the field of biology for the Savi. They kept the Asurians in holding cells and treated them like animals, not even deemed sapient by their standards because of their primitive intellectual faculties.

Unfortunately, some of the weaker members of the Asurian society - such as the young and old - contracted a disease from the bacteria that was naturally present on Savi skin. With their own survival at stake, and the studies of the Velsren sac not complete, the Savi scrambled to analyze the still-living Asurians to develop a vaccine for them. Unbeknownst to the Savi, the Asurians believed the many deaths caused by disease were intentional. Naturally, during the time on the Spheres, suffering invasive "animal" experiments, the primitive Asurians came to think of the Savi as cruel captors.

After the mass die-offs, the Savi figured that in order to help the Asurians survive on any planet other than their own and to take full advantage of their regenerative abilities, major genetic enhancement of the inferior species would be necessary. Some of the improvements made were increasing the frequency of their mating cycles so that more Asurians could be bred, giving them stronger immune systems, just to be resilient against bacteria found on most Class-M planets (since they could not house the air-breathing Asurians on their ships indefinitely) and giving them more complex brains to aide them in planetary survival. The most important genetic enhancement was, of course, enlarging the size of a gland between the shoulder blades of the Asurians, so that more of the regenerative fluids could be harvested. The group of Savi considered the alterations beneficial for both themselves and the Asurians, even if the process was not humane in any degree.

The set-back came in the year 120 AC (Federation time). After 300 years in captivity, there still existed a massive language barrier between the two species, where the Savi still believed Asurians to be primitive, lesser beings, and the Asurians believed the Savi to be cruel kidnappers that did not care for their Asurian fate in the slightest degree. Neither was entirely false, from their own points of views. The unrest, the tightly scheduled and painful extraction of fluids from their Velsren sacs, combined with frequent disease outbreaks that shaved down Asurian numbers, finally came to a head. The Asurians rose up en-masse against the Savi. A battle across all three Sphere ships raged, and the Three Wars were still the subject of stories in Asurian culture as of 2381. The group of Savi had technology on their side compared to the savage Asurians, but in the end, the Savi surrendered.

When the Asurians took control of the three ships, they were fed lies by the surviving Savi. The Asurians were told that the Savi who had taken them were the last of their kind - which wasn't true - and that their home world had been destroyed through radiation. This was true, but said in hope of mercy. The Asurians slayed the last Savi, however, and would make a future for themselves aboard the three Sphere ships. The option for the Savi was to reclaim the ships, yet as it were, the harvest of the Asurian people's regenerative cells had already proved enough save the Savi species, since the Velsren fluids would not just raise fertility among the Antes, but supplement the new research of the Scion genome in the late 22nd century.

Having continued their research in their Flotilla, it was the Savi who first intercepted both the earliest Human-made space probes - Voyager and Pioneer. They decoded the signals left by human scientists, but let the probes continue their interstellar paths. This was when the Savi began visiting the Sol System and started examining life on Earth. They were fascinated by the curiosity of human beings. Savi never considered shaking hands with the Earthlings. As per their studies on human beings, they were all considered greedy and materialistic beings, even in their later self-denial and discontinuation of currency. Instead, the Savi settled to study the Humans in their Overseer saucers in the late twentieth century, catalogued their findings, and then moved on to other findings in the Galaxy. While it was not condoned by the Code, some individual Savi researchers let their scientific curiosity get the better of them, and abducted Humans, but these Savi were punished for breaching the Code when they returned to the Flotilla.

Image: A Savi female of the Ante caste, aboard a Savi ship.

The first Scion was born in 2274, and the Scion Directive was implemented by the High Council, which gradually warped the Code and the conduct of the Savi. The amount of unrest in reaction to this was minimal since all Cataclysms that had come before had made the Savi stop questioning the Code. The Code existed to protect them all and the Archive, and breaching what was stated in the Code was highly punishable even before the Scions Directive. The new ruling caste of the Flotilla used their longer lifespans and their patience to make the Antecedents oblivious to the changing of their culture. They became slaves by cultural conversion.

In 2375, with the Savi Directive in full effect, a reunion with the Asurians was unavoidable since they shared the same cloaking technology. When it happened, the Savi signed a peace treaty with them for sake of furthering their own agenda. This, of course, rather than holding any interest to abide to the treaty, but they had convinced the Asurians to send operatives that had underwent biological masking into the Federation, making the Asurian operatives spies in mutual interest for the Federation's development. The Savi and the Asurians had a strained alliance, where it was was difficult for Savi to get along with Asurians because of their differences, but even old history weighed into the attitude of the Asurians.

At some point before 2381, a select number of Scions decided to let themselves be infected by the same parasites that had taken over Starfleet Command, believing this was their next evolutionary step. These were members of the High Council, among them Semathal qi Versant, the Admiral of the Precept-ship Versant. Yet in March of 2381, with the aid of abducted crew from the Theurgy and the Endeavour, the Antecedents learned about how the Scion Directive had put a veil over their eyes by changing the Code, perverting their identity of a peaceful species, and a domestic war broke out in the Flotilla. It was incited by a High Class Ante by the name Echtand qi Versant, who held the position as The Voice on the Versant.

Government and Military

Image: Precept-ship Bridge

After the first Scion was born in 2274, the governance of the Savi Flotilla had changed dramatically. As of 2381, only Scions were picked for captaincy of their ships, and other Scions were made lead researchers in their respective scientific fields.

There were seven Scion Admirals that formed the Savi High Council. Only Antes of the Upper Class were considered relevant to include in the sessions held between the seven Scion Admirals. They were merely there to know and implement decisions, concerning everything ranging from ship development and options of new scientific pursuits. The Antes were only included as an advisory function, without any remaining mandate to repeal decisions. Nonetheless, an elaborate voting system was in place for these advisory roles among the Antes.

The Scion Directive had made Savi society divided into three broad categories, and they all had different political influence. The lowest in the pyramid were Antes with lowest emotional intelligence, the Lower Class, and the Middle Class consisted of Antes with moderate or high emotional intelligence. The High Class consisted of Antes with high to very high emotional intelligence, and who had the most fitting receptor responses in their brains at their birth for administration and leadership. The departmental and research leaders aboard the ships of the Flotilla were supposed to have all the qualities required to be in the High class, and if there were more than one candidate for these roles on a ship, the voting was done among High and Middle and Classes only. Lower classes were considered emotionally too sensitive to make any intelligent choice. Intelligence was the most valued trait among Savi, so the Lower class Savi were often picked for mundane positions on the ships. This system was applied for effective management and to get best out of every Savi. The real reason this was done, however, was to allow the Scions to create a Low Class slave population to handle tasks in the Flotilla that had nothing to do with scientific research.

Since the Scions took over leadership of the Savi, resources were pooled into the development and armament of the Flotilla, changing the Precept ships into dreadnoughts rather than vessels of scientific research. Even though the armament of their ships were more than sufficient, even tested when applicable and without risk of discovery (without any witnesses to the tests), they were, perhaps, not the most experienced in battle. Their clandestine nature prevented any deeper studies in tactics and strategy, instead relying on the high-end and superior weaponry.

Savi Extraction Teams

The extraction specialists of the Savi were the closest thing the Savi had to armed military. They operated in teams of six Antes, led by a seventh Scion team leader, and their objective was to isolate the specimen or tech that was to be beamed over to their ship. They carried graviton pulse weapons in handgun size along with transponder devices that they placed on the things they were to extract.

If the tech they needed was too integrated into the ships they have boarded, they would use force to free the object for extraction.

Exosuits: The exosuit of the Antes and the Scions had similar design and features. The helmets protected their heads and shielded their eyes and ears from the bright lights and loud noises around them. Their suits also protected them from most kind of radiation. The suit was equivalent to Starfleet's Tactical CONN and Security Exosuits in terms of synthetic muscle technology with servomechanisms and spinal stabilisers. The back of the suits also had low-energy thrusters added with thrusters in the magnetized hard-shell boots. The exosuits were highly resistant to directed energy weaponry, where the highest kill-setting on a Starfleet phaser had merely 25 % of the effect on the outer layers of the exosuits.

Weaponry: The hand-held graviton pulse weaponry of the Savi could fire both bolts and beams as the situation required. (Graviton technology is described further down on this page).

Mobile Transponders: All team members had small transponders in their utility belts, which they attached to the specimen or tech they meant to extract. The devices served as a booster for the signal to the ship the teams were deployed from.

Technology

Image: A Precept ship of the Savi, launching her Initiator-class interceptors.

All Savi of mature age wore a singular type of skin hugging and flexible uniform throughout their life span. The uniform had the function of providing necessary temperature to the body. It also had stealth camouflage, so that they were able to escape the probes and the eyes of other species. Scions had lesser use of the technology to hide from sensors, but they still required the technology to hide from the naked eye.

With the pace of discovery among the Savi, a lot of their technology was more advanced than the Federation. These technologies were, among many others:

Zero-Point Energy

Hundreds of years ago, the Savi solved the cosmological constant problem (which was one of the greatest unsolved mysteries among Federation physicists during the twenty-fourth century). Many of those physicists believed that "the vacuum held the key to a full understanding of nature", but whether or not that was true, the Savi learned to harness small localised fluctuations in the zero energy state (zero point) to derive power. Through their research and adaptations, they made it so that the zero-point radiation of the vacuum was of an order of magnitude greater than nuclear energy. Since their initial success with this technology, they calibrated it to be the prime energy source for the Flotilla. The Precept ships had the largest ZPE reactors, but even the Initiator-class interceptors had smaller drive cores with the same technology.

Graviton Beam Technology

Graviton beam technology was first discovered by the Savi. They discovered what the Humans would call the extra dimension in which Kaluza-Klein graviton particles (particles without mass) vibrated and produced gravity. These graviton beams were not akin to traditional weaponry of energy transfer from phasers or disruptors, since the aquamarine graviton beams of Savi ships and hand-held weaponry disrupted shields, and then caused damage via gravimetric shear against the hull and soft tissues - effectively ripped both apart. When mounted on ships, the graviton beams were fired from graviton cannons, yet on some older ships of smaller size, they were fired from the deflector dishes.

Most of the Flotilla's offensive capabilities came from the graviton deflector dishes. Gravitic displacement propulsion technology was also derived from this graviton technology.

Image: Savi Graviton Weapon, by Dennis Haupt
Link: Artstation

Kinetic Shielding

Savi ships carried two kinds of shielding by default, both stemming from the graviton deflector dishes. In this sense, Savi deflector shielding was similar to Starfleet deflector shielding. Yet the Savi gravitational force field was a separate shielding system used specifically to deflect pre-warp weaponry, such as missiles, bullets, arrows, and rocks. This kinetic shielding was a powerful force spread out over an area just a little larger than the deflector shielding. It was capable of exerting approximately 30-50 tons of force on a given area, depending on how much power was routed to the kinetic shielding. While the ship was moving, it was possible for the ship to ram into another mass, using this force field. An Overseer saucer or an Initiator-class interceptor moving at 50 MPH with kinetics at 20-30 tons would exert about the damage one would expect from a very heavy thing moving very fast. Lift-off from the ground with kinetics on would leave an imprint on the ground. Kinetics and deflector shielding could both be active at the same time, but at great power consumption.

Kkrek Alloy Hull Coating

Kkrek was a thin, silver-translucent, non-Newtonian liquid at room temperature, a mixture of both natural and lab-created elements. It was a super-hydrophobic alloy that did not bond easily in the presence of other elements. It hardened permanently when exposed to high heats. The surface of heated Kkrek was extremely smooth and reduced friction to near-zero. It could sometimes feel chilly to the touch.

Kkrek alloy coating deteriorated over the span of several centuries, though hard strikes to the surface of the alloy could sometimes break the coating, leaving the surface below open to damage. Although rain and wind slid right off the alloy, hail could sometimes cause hairpin cracks that would reduce the coating's overall effectiveness, and large meteors could sometimes tear off chunks of coating all together. It was possible to strip and re-coat a Savi ship, yet this was very time-consuming.

Ventrak Cloaking

Ventrak Cloaking was a type of cloaking device developed by the Savi for the purpose of remaining unseen while observing. A Savi ship's shields dropped automatically on activation of the cloaking device. This left the Savi ships vulnerable for a second before the cloaking field formed, and a half second after it dropped. While cloaking, the ship's movement did not set off any motion tracking sensors, nor did light 'shimmer' around it. No sensors couldn't pick up on a Ventrak cloaked object, and Ventrak cloaking did not leave behind any particles to detect it, making it a nearly 'perfect' cloaking device. Savi ships and Initiator-class interceptors did not produce enough energy to power weapons and shielding while cloaked. To do so required the cloaking to be dropped.

Mythology

Savi were highly intelligent and logical beings. They didn’t let myths of any kind prevail even among their children. They didn’t let false beliefs and wishful thinking hold them back. While they discredited myths among their own, they let dangerous myths prevail among other races to dampen the pace of their scientific evolution. After the implementation of the Scion Directive, it was unknown how large a part the Savi played in undermining scientific development among the Federation worlds.

Disclaimer Notice

Original 3D Images of the Antecendent Savi by Jack Nesbit. Check out his awesome gallery! https://www.artstation.com/nesbitjack