A Backstory of the Teslyliac People

May 19, 2024, 03:11:10 AM

Because of the nature of these events being unapproved and really just the overly complicated backstory for the Teslyliac race, it should be seen as more of my own personal head-canon. Anyway, I figured I may as well finally write this all out and share it, enjoy~

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Though there had been a number of survey missions to the region, the lack of intelligent life meant that it was not until a routine mission to catalog flora and fauna on the planet of Yoeshina IV that a civilian scientist discovered the Teslyliac plant and the first known recorded Teslyliac duplicate, a small rodent species that the plant used for spread far and wide.

The civilian scientist, Niander Octavian, isolated the plant after studying the rodent species and noticing some members of the race had fur in bright colors and scans showed those specific members of the species were not in fact the same species as the others.

After a week of observation he discovered the plant and shortly after the mechanism for duplication. With limited time to study on the planet, Niander decided to push the limits. He used a small vial of blood, an old family heirloom, and poured the blood onto the flower of the plant. After fearing it had not worked for a few days, he was amazed to discover a rapidly growing melon-like structure on the third day. He watched over the next two weeks as the plant grew a large melon.

The first duplicate created was surprisingly innocent and naive, Niander called her Hera Saugn, named for the woman whose blood had been used and the Greek goddess.

Afterward, Niander moved quickly to harvest the plant that had created Hera and a number of others. The plant that had created Hera was dubbed T01 while the others were T02-05. T01 would become the basis for his further research while he left T02-T05 in stasis until they were needed.

The first research outpost was built on a desolate world not far from a trade route. Plant T01 was spliced and 9 additional plants were created from cuttings from it. From the 9 plants, a new batch of duplicates was created. All the while Niander worked with Hera and she learned quickly.

9 variations of the DNA that created Hera were generated from a blood synthesis machine and the 9 plants were exposed. Niander experimented with implanting memories into these 9 to see which would take and which of the variations would work to make a new and stronger breed of Teslyliac duplicate, as Hera was not just developing quickly, her life cycle seemed to be accelerated too. This new batch would fix this issue of deteriorating genetics.

Of the 9 only 7 successfully survived the melon stage and entered their early development, of those 7 only 3 survived into full development.

Shortly after the 3 became self-aware and began training there was a fire at the research outpost and everything was lost. Niander managed to salvage Hera, who was badly injured, and T01 from the fire, but the rest was assumed lost. He would only learn later that the 3 surviving duplicates were picked up by Starfleet and began their own lives. He vowed to eventually check in on them.

He would return then to Octavian Headquarters and begin work on his new project. After his success with Bio-Neural Gel-Packs, he was given a lot of leeway to work on any project he desired, so he threw himself into the Teslyliac Project. Hera would be kept alive by being linked to the root systems of nearly a hundred Teslyliac plants. She would seem to change then and would drift in and out as her mind fully joined with the mycelial network that her brain was connected to.

As Hera lost herself to the network she joined the minds of all the Teslyliac through the network.

At the same time, Niander began a program to place a new batch of duplicates for the express purpose of aiding Starfleet. His goal was to put an asset on each and every ship in the fleet.

It was through Hera that he would then learn of the infestation in key personnel, Lahkesis knew, so Hera knew and since Hera knew, Niander would find out.

He was beginning to prepare his own counter-offensive when things changed again, Lahkesis died and his asset on the Theurgy was gone. He decided to work on a new prototype to send to the Theurgy. This new creation was dubbed Artimis and at the first opportunity, she was sent to the Theurgy.

While he was working on Artimis, Niander became increasingly obsessed with the whispered words of Hera when she slipped from her lucid moments and whispered visions she saw through the network. He heard of the darkness sweeping across space and war coming.

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At some point during his research treaty negotiations with the Romulans allowed for scientific exchange and as a result, Niander was permitted to exchange a Teslyliac plant for the latest Romulan genetic sequencing technology. The Romulans would begin developing their own duplicate shortly after and the first duplicate not created from the line of T01, called the Hera Line, was created. This first duplicate was more a prototype or proof of concept and named Nahir.

Nahir is oddly enough the first to be grown from a planet that had never generated a humanoid before and thus was the same naive and trusting child Hera was, but while Hera was turned into a kind woman and eventually an oracle, Nahir would become a weapon.