The small artificial world of T'ny'la was created millions of years ago by a race called the Tai'dyn-e. They possessed extremely sophisticated sciences, but were passionate devotees of a nature-centric, pantheistic religion that prompted them to discard creations of metal and plastic as soon as their tech level allowed replacement with bio-engineered substitutes. T'ny'la was envisioned as a living library.

Much of the structure of T'ny'la is a living organism, although the infrastructure is inorganic, including the gravity generator at the core which allows it to have nearly Equis-normal gravity despite being only half the size of our moon. The caves are made of living coral and even the "water" is actually a thin, nutritious serum. Although the ecosystem is finely balanced, this is no paradise. The Tai'dyn-e knew very well that in order to remain successful, species must constantly be honed to a knife-edged perfection by intense competition. Lack of competition means stagnation, and stagnation means extinction. This is very much a world of nature red in tooth and claw.

Ironically, the Tai'dyn-e themselves went extinct several millennia ago due to an instinct which served them well in their past but made them terribly unfit for life outside their world.

For reasons that will become obvious shortly, very little is known about the Tai'dyn-e because of their rather odd method of information storage. Much can be extrapolated, however.

We know that they were a hive-mind species. A single Tai was rather dull, capable of incredible feats of memorization but not very good at processing or creatively using that information. However, they had evolved a system of pheromone emitting organs and highly sensitive antennae which let them exchange information-carrying chemicals. Two Tai’dyn-e in close proximity could basically link up their nervous systems by emitting and absorbing pheromones, almost a neurochemical form of telepathy, becoming in effect a single mind with two bodies. The more Tai'dyn-e gathered together, the more intelligent the hive mind became, as each individual functioned as an add-on storehouse of information. However, there were limits as to how many Tai’dyn-e could crowd into a space which limited the overall intelligence possible of the hive mind. Also, when an individual died, their particular collection of information was lost to the group.

The evolutionary psychology of the Tai’dyn-e obviously had a strong affect on how they preferred to store information. Books and electronic archives were awkward and inefficient compared to their elegant natural means of mind-sharing. Genetic engineering offered a solution: the hobyah.

Hobyah

Hobyah are sapient beings that function as living data storage units. Each one’s brain is hardwired with a vast amount of information. When in ‘open’ form, it hooks into the nervous system of a host, which has access to that information. When in ‘closed’ form, the hobyah simples goes about its existence, living a simple, pastoral life in the bioengineered forests of T’ny’la.

In ‘closed’ form, hobyah resemble a cross between a salamander and a fetus. Tiny enough to sit in an equine hand, they are bipedal, with fragile limbs, thin tails, slender torsos and a hunched back to support their immense, swollen craniums. Their faces are dominated by dark, bulbous eyes, with a small-toothed slit of a mouth and pinhole nostrils and ear dimples. Their furless, scaleless skin comes in several pastel shades, often with light freckling.

In ‘open’ form, a hobyah’s limbs and body merge into a featureless blob, which then extrudes numerous fine tendrils. The eyes, nose, mouth and ears seal over. What is left looks like a crude little sculpture of a multi-limbed octopus. Nerves - invisible to the naked eye - extend from the tendrils to jack into the host’s nervous system. The underside of the body becomes mucosal and extends rootlike filaments into the host to absorb nutrients directly from the bloodstream. A hobyah can switch from open to closed form and back within a few minutes, although several rapid switches would require a great deal of metabolic energy.

Hobyah reproduce by taking on their open form and meshing together. As they do so, each individual examines the other’s information content and judges if they would be a good fit. Usually mating are in between hobyah containing a similar subject, but occasionally two hobyah from entirely different disciplines will combine into a novel way. If the partners do deem each other acceptable, they merge into a single blob of cells, which then splits into many tiny new hobyah.

A host can carry several hobyah at any one time. The hobyah do seem to have personalities when in closed form, but in open form are completely passive, serving only as add-on memory for the host.

One of rarest of all are the hobyah created to hold works of fiction, which Rylstqua can become addicted to, as if they were a drug. Inevitably, some Rylstqua communities ban fiction-hobyah, and a black market has sprung up to provide them. Mutant force-merged hobyah (as detailed below) are a cheap, extremely dangerous alternative to fiction-hobyah, but some twisted Rylstqua actually prefer them.

The rarest hobyah of all are the blanks, those born without any ingrained knowledge. The object of these individuals is to observe the world around them, recording contemporary history. Of course, a hobyah’s delicate physical form makes this difficult, so blanks merge permanently with a Rylstqua, effectively commandeering the other’s body, in order to travel the world. This has a distinct physical effect on the Rylstqua. Their fur grows in solid black, sometimes with a bit of silver patterning, and their eyes become purple. They also lose the ability to reproduce. Other Rylstqua regard these chosen ones with awe and not a little bit of fright. When a blank-ridden Rylstqua feels it has acquired enough knowledge, the hobyah inside will reproduce parthenogenically, shedding its budded clones into the host’s pouch in place of its own eggs.

The average hobyah, however, leads a quiet, peaceful, rather dull and repetitive life not unlike a monk of the old days. They tend to their fungal gardens and meditate on their inherited wisdom. There does not seem to be any sort of organized political structure in a hobyah village, nor does there seem to be sociological stratification, as all are capable of performing more or less the same function. The only excitement in their long lives are the occasional swarms, in which a large number of hobyah will become restless, finally leaving their home village en masse to seek reproductive partners in distant lands.

Rylstqua

Although the Tai’dyn-e are long gone, hobyah are not left in peace.

Scholars theorize that the Rylstqua were originally pets of the Tai’dyn-e, or perhaps engineered slaves. The Tai scientists who developed hobyah modified the ancestral Rylstqua to accommodate hobyah interfacing.

From the waist up, Rylstqua look very much like a pony in a werewolf costume. The broad-chested torso and long, muscular arms are quite humanoid, as are the clawed, leathery-palmed hands. The features are lupine - almond-shaped, pale eyes with a dark sclera, damp, dark nose, small peaked ears set high on the head, large fangs - but the general proportions of the face are human, with only a slight muzzle. The legs are those of a carnivorous dinosaur, thickly muscled and powerful, with three talon-tipped toes and a long tail. The whole of the creature is covered with dense fur in multiple shades of charcoal, jet, ash and silver.

There are two great divisions between the Rylstqua - the morning clan and the evening clan. Physically, they are distinguished by color. Morning clan individuals have orange highlights in their fur and bright blue eyes, even clan have dark blue shading in their fur and fiery orange eyes. According to Rylstqua philosophy, morning clan people are more extroverted, cheerful, contented, passive, charming, sociable, intuitive, satisfied with the status quo, reliable, hardworking and sensible. Evening people, by contrast, are introverted, aggressive, creative, passionate, prickly, curious, reflective, arrogant, constantly questioning and questing and more likely to be traders or hunters than farmers of other such solid, trustworthy citizens.

Internally, Rylstqua look much more alien. Following the diagram, notice there are three small, two-chambered hearts (red), two set high in the chest and one in the pelvic region. The lungs (light blue) are a series of muscular walled-pumps and air sacs distributed throughout the body, and there is no diaphragm. Most of the space in that barrel chest is taken up with the crop (orange, shown expanded), an expanded part of the gullet which is used to house hobyah. The crop is protected by a bony keel (light yellow). Swallowed in their closed form, within the confines of the pouch the hobyah will take on open form and link into the Rylstqua in exactly the same way as they did with the Tai’dyn-e. There is even a secondary brain (hot pink) between the shoulder blades, also protected by a bony keel, which is tasked with interfacing between the hobyah and the Rylstqua’s main nervous system.

However, there are some design flaws which the Tai never got around to smoothing out. They attached their hobyah to an external absorption plate which had evolved as part of their communication system, but Rylstqua run the risk of accidentally ingesting the hobyah (digestive tract is in pink, various gland and filtration organs in dark purple), which might destroy it, or worse, inundate its nervous system with random snatches of information as the hobyah is digested, potentially driving it insane. Rylstqua also have a more difficult time removing their hobyah, which must be done by vomiting. If the hobyah remains in open form too long, it may merge so firmly with the host it can never be removed.

Rylstqua are functional hermaphrodites (pseudo-ovaries on the flanks, pseudo-testes in the groin, both shown in bright yellow). They have marsupial style pouches (shown in profile view) on their abdomens. When they mate, each partner will extend an intromittent organ (shown in bright purple) from their pouch into their mate’s, extruding large gelatine eggs that resemble a frog’s. The pouches seal up after birth and flood with a seminal fluid carrying gametes which fertilize the eggs. Both partners become pregnant. The embryos develop like tadpoles in the fluid-filled pouch until it unseals a few months later to disgorge two to four cubs, which are then raised by the parent who carried them.

Socially, Rylstqua communities resemble those of equines at a low tech level, roughly Cirran, but with sculpting of planetary bone replacing metalworking and superior medical care. Tech levels are lower in the wild areas, closer to Stirropean Iron Age. They tend to live in small towns with a center market that is surrounded by home territories of various size and shape. Their society is hierarchal, with the strongest and wisest as alphas and the elders as valued advisors. Rylstqua discriminate against one another based on age, general skill and usefulness, and appearance. They are territorial and will vigorously defend their homes and property.

Rylstqua culture revolves around hobyah. A whole barter system has been built up with hobyah as the standards of value. Hobyah with rare information are much more valuable than those with commoner types. They have developed a number of ways to acquire hobyah. Some merely hunt them, like a predator would a prey animal, swallowing what they can catch. These individuals are rare, however, and hated by settled folks.

Most Rylstqua are traders and farmers. Traders travel the world seeking out rare hobyah, which they carry back to civilization. Traders have come up with a trick of swallowing their wares along with the juices of a certain species of berry which will keep the hobyah in closed form, allowing the Rylstqua to carry them safely. Any Rylstqua who does not want to merge with a hobyah (for example, if they are being forcibly indoctrinated) might use this potion; there is also another which acts in an opposite manner to ensure the hobyah will never regain closed form, meaning it becomes a permanent part of the host Rylstqua. Some unscrupulous Rylstqua will also use this second potion to forcibly merge two hobyah which might not be compatible, creating a batch of normal looking but informationally surreal mutants.

Most Rylstqua, however, are ‘farmers’ who protect and nourish their own village of particular hobyah types. Usually this protectorate is passed down from pouch-parent to child. Some farmers actively breed particular types of hobyah in an attempt to improve their stock’s value.