Wellesians

Wellesians are a large, nonhumanoid breed of sentient life-form that formerly dominated large portions of the Local Group, sometimes as a Compact client species. They were one of the founding species of the Piscan Empire.

Physical Parameters
Wellesians are so named because of their uncanny resemblance to the Martians from H G Wells' War of the Worlds as described in the original novel.

Biological Peculiarities
As with most known breeds, Wellesians have two sexes: male and female, though the mechanics of their reproduction are quite complex compared to most breeds. This is due to the single most peculiar aspect of Wellesian biology: Wellesian symbiosis.

Wellesian symbiosis is like nothing else in the known universe.   Wellesians lack a digestive and/or excretory system (aside from the sweat glands in their remarkably human-like skin), so they use a radically different method to gain nutrients and dispose of wastes. Basically, any given Wellesian uses a special organ not terribly unlike a mammalian placenta to link him- or herself to a compatible being (usually a Qaurach or a Scorpiac; there may be other compatible breeds) who acts as a sort of living dialysis machine and digestive system for the Wellesian. The linkage apparatus includes a "nub" that allows the two beings to link minds as well. Not surprisingly, these linkages are treated by Wellesians not unlike a sexual or marital relationship, and it is rare to find a Wellesian without a preferred "bond-mate". Mechanical substitutes for this symbiosis are available, and Wellesians have been known to survive as long as a week without recourse either to a link or to these substitutes at all, but these are generally exceedingly exceptional cases.

Wellesian reproduction is quite odd, as well. A special portion of the placenta at the rear holds either the positor or the receptacle. After fertilization, this portion of the placenta extrudes, giving the developing fetus the appearance of "budding off" from the parent. After fourteen weeks, the fetus detaches him- or herself from the parent and wriggles into a special pouch called a fem on a Qaurach near the juncture point, where he or she will complete the rest of his or her development over the next twenty-six weeks. This stage is called the femling, and is considered a being in his or her own right. The fem has a connection point within it for the femling to link to his or her mother-pair.

Races and Racism
Unlike almost all other nonhomoform breeds, Wellesians have races more or less congruent to those of the homoform breeds, in that their near-human skin presents the same tones and shades present in MBHs. As in the case of so many homoform breeds, this has led in most Wellesian societies to a racial caste system, with Black Wellesians at its summit. As with all caste systems, there is a certain overlap in layers of status, but the ruling elites in any Wellesian society are always Black Wellesians if any are present in the society.