Trilat
Brief
TriLats, or Kal-En-Venshos in their own tongue, are an ancient species that has been nearly extinct until recently. After the accidental discovery of a Trilat ship frozen deep in a glacier on the planet Rime and the subsiquent events samples of the species were recovered. Cloned by scientists in Sunset the species has now recovered until it makes up a recognizable percentage of Sunset's non-human population.
History
From an interview with Lord Dudo'kin, ruler of the Gen'Moki Republic:
"The Gen'Moki have been aware for over 20,000 rotations of our planet around it's star according to our own records. When we first realized ourselves the Experimentors had been an Empire for over 100,000 rotations. They were dying but their power was still undeniable. Masters of shaping their forms and the forms of others as well as in reading those forms.
This mastery had created their empire and also destroyed it. Somewhere in their history they had eliminated their breeding potential and instead had turned to direct manipulation of clones. There was a side effect that was not immediately forseen - their desire to continue as a people was eliminated. They were long lived though and this was not seen as an immediate problem."
Lord Dudo'kin paused and took a drink. "I will have my aid continue for a bit - the Meensel dries out your throat."
"The Experimentors, or Kal-En-Venshos as they called themselves, had built a mighty empire. It was not an empire of their own hands however. Numerous subservient species manned their warships and filled their armies. Some were created by their own hand while others came to be over time. This relationship was not agreed on by both: The Kal-En-Venshos used their superior knowledge to control the others and to force them to their will and many still carry the scars of this control in their forms.
Despite their undeniable power they still continued their acts of experiementation and modification. Species were de-constructed and re-constructed to fit a specific purpose while others were wiped out with engineered plagues to eliminate a perceived fatal flaw. They even commited the greatest crime of all - reducing worlds full of life to barren husks to test some invented plague."
Lord Dudo'kin finished the glass and set it down. As his aid went to refill it he resumed picked up the story.
"The Kal-En-Venshos had many enemies, both in their own subservient species and the other species present in the galaxy. Both were afraid to act because of their power however. It was one of their own that broke their empire - the Nameless One. Realizing the great evil that it had perpetrated on the galaxy the Nameless One turned on the Kal-En-Venshos. It betrayed their secrets and coordinated an attack on their duplication facilities and seats of power by their slave races and their enemies.
Wars are not won in a striding. They fought back savagely turning their remaining slave species on their betrayers. Engineered plagues stripped hundreds of rebel worlds bare and destroyed at least one of the attacking empires. Some were not prone to their plagues however and pressed on. The betrayal of the Nameless One was completed when the Kal-En-Venshos homeworld was destroyed by an unnamed weapon weilded by their enemies. Enemies remarkable similar to the being who was conversing with the Kal-En-Venshos in the hallway."
Governor Villanova considered all this. Captain Tagon spoke up while he was thinking. "The Eldar then?"
"It is possible. They had something that could do it, and it fits their desription. Another piece of the puzzle."
Biology
Even as an entirely cloned species trilats would be relatively unique: Their biology makes them even moreso. Trilats are so named because of their tri-lateral symetry. They have four 'legs', three 'arms' and a bi-segmented 'head'. They are also a multi-organism species with each trilat consisting of a 'controller' and a number of 'drones'. These drones are linked to the controller and can be directly controlled by it.
The physiology of the trilats is both engineered and evolved and the line between the two is very blurry. As masters of genetic engineering they have not left any recognizable traces of their un-manipulated appearance to compare with and it is possible that they chose their current form over a previous, completely different, form. It is likely however that this form is only slightly departed from their evolutionary form. Their body type is particularly suited for moving through tunnels and it is unlikely they would have chosen this specific environmental type as it is not a particular efficient structural layout.
Each TriLat can be considered two distinct parts of a whole. The drones are the physical aspect of the TriLats: When not directly controlled the drones are instinctive almost feral creatures that stick to biological imperatives as well as trained tasks. The slimmer controllers could be considered the actual sentient. They display complex decision making skills, self-identification, and other hallmarks of a sentient. But they are also able to take direct control of their sub-sentient drones essentially making them a sentient extension of themselves. This is accomplished by a form of biological quantum entanglement. This is likely an engineered function, which also raises the question as to whether the drones were originally part of the TriLat biology or if they were an engineered addition that would free the controller from the need to do everyday labor.
