The Sebhra

The Sebhra were a Scattered Worlds race who called themselves "The Splendid People." The keynotes for the Sebhra are the two words "fat: and "lazy." Being Hchevidiire-derived, they are massive: each masses about a thousand kilos. They are hexapeds; the middle two limbs have migrated to center and lengthened, supplying seven-fingered "hands." They have a subsidiary ganglion in the center of these hands to help co-ordinate.

Sebhra can regenerate to a limited degree, and can reproduce either sexually or asexually, by budding.

The Sebhra evolved on a planet with a very slow rotational period and hardly any axial titlt. Being large and primarily herbirvorous, they did not develop any instinct for urgency or swift movement. Heavily armored except on the soft underbelly, it befitted the Sebhra to stay put and tuck in when attacked. Later social development, for agriculture and protection from the great predators, led to intelligence.

The most unfortunate trait of the Sebhra was their dietary dependence on the meat of a tiny furred mammaloid called the kelf. Kelf supplied the Sebhra with a vital trace amino acid -- only kelf and Sebhra remained of the thousand-or-so species that used this acid. Kelf manufactured it in their tissues; Sebhra ate kelf to get it. After the Sebhra became civilized, kelf-herding became a dominant activity. Before civilization, all Sebhra hunted kelf.

This dependence on kelf was very unfortunate, for kelf resemble the major Scattered Worlds race the Kreen -- and when Kreen first contacted the Sebhra, war could be the only result.

In the 270th century of Kreen civilization, Kreen galactic exploration parties made contach with the Sebhra. Sebhra ships tracked exploration parties, and the Empire of the Miethara was invaded. A period of war with the Sebhra commenced, and does not end until 700 Kreen years later, when a vast Kreen starfleet entered Sebhra space and defeated the Sebhra. The Kreen fleet withdrew with prisoners, depopulating Sebhra space. Sebhra prisoners became a slave caste in Kreen space.

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copyright (c) 2008, Don Sakers
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