Physical Description

Lanoctes (lan-ock-tays) are very large, bipedal mammals with four arms and a long tail, covered in fur that gets longer around the ankles and wrists, though the hands and feet themselves are hairless. A lanocte has two fingers and one thumb on each hand, and three toes on each foot. Lanocte fur is usually a grey-ish colour, darker in the areas with longer fur, and tinted green, though colours can vary. Other patterns are uncommon, but not impossible.

Lanoctes, in addition to their six main limbs, also have multiple fuzzy 'frills', both on their backs and tails. These may have once been functioning wings, but are no longer useable at any point in a lanocte's life, both due to their structure and their size comparative to the lanocte. A lanocte frill's dorsal side is the same colour as their body fur, but the ventral side is brightly coloured, and always patterned in some way. Green is most common, but multiple contrasting colours aren't unheard of. The average number of back frills is four, and of tail frills three, but this can vary widely between individuals.

A lanocte has large, pointed ears, tipped with tufts, though they use their vision as much as they do their hearing. Their main eyes are large, normally green or yellow, but they also have another pair of far simpler, smaller eyes, on their bare throat. They also have a dewlap, with the same patterns as their wings. The top part of a lanocte's mouth has two finger-like appendages, ending in dull 'claws'. Lanoctes have long necks, and a dark-coloured mane slightly longer than their main body fur, going from the head to the tail.

Lanoctes have very little sexual dimorphism. Due to their usual hivemind state, unless they are of the 'nodocte' variety, any spacefaring lanoctes will usually be found in groups of around 8 or 9, though it is common to see multiple groups ('nets') temporarily combined. Each net usually has its own insignia that is placed in some way on each individual, to avoid confusion. Lanocte blood, and thus flesh, is dark green.

Personality

Lanoctes are defined largely by their common state of existence - that is, in nets of about 8, each individual lanocte connected to the others in a hivemind state using their psychic powers. It is normal for nets to refer to themselves as one being, though other nets may refer to themselves as a collective to reduce confusion from non-hiveminded species. It is considered normal for lanoctes to remain in a full- or partial-hivemind state, and, in fact, they are predisposed to greatly prefer being at least partially connected to their fellow lanoctes. Those who do not are rare, though more commonly found in space, finding it easier to socially connect with aliens than with their hiveminded siblings.

Though, because of the more disorganised effects of larger groups, the typical number of lanoctes in a net is 8, it is normal for multiple groups meeting to temporarily join in a partial-hivemind state, and in lanocte settlements, it is also expected for everyone to join in this state. Due to the effects of so many individuals' thoughts joined into one temporary mind, the structure of lanocte society as a whole has been often described as disorganised compared to other, non-hiveminded societies, "but it just works somehow". This 'disorganised' effect has been seen to carry on even to smaller groups, and there are anecdotal claims that even individual, disconnected lanoctes are, on average, more disorderly than other species. To lanoctes, though, they are perfectly organised, or at the least organised enough that they cannot be called entirely untidy. Organised in their own way.

One of the other most important parts of lanocte culture is art. Visual art, in particular - many nets dedicate their lives to painting, though some prefer sculpting, and it is traditional that a newly-formed lanocte net first paints a wall mural together in a full-hivemind state before anything else, to demonstrate their togetherness. Lanoctes have a fondness for bright, contrasting colours, though the rest of their personal artistic likes and dislikes varies with the lanocte. Lanocte nets usually form based around liking the same style of art, though there are plenty that decide to combine based on other factors. Overall, though, it is generally advised for young lanoctes to be certain of who they join with for what reason, as a lanocte usually stays in the same net for life.

Lanoctes are, in general, extremely friendly and welcoming. This does not mean that they are calm. One should be warned that they are only gentle giants in the sense that they are unlikely to harm others - lanoctes are very outgoing, and usually cooperative. However, lanoctes are usually also rather impressionable, often all going with the exact same idea that one person suggested. They are not always naive, but are extremely easily pushed into supporting an idea that they don't entirely agree with.

It should be noted that lanoctes are quite different when not, at the least, near their net members. To be lonely is the worst thing to a lanocte, more so if that loneliness comes out of rejection from a group. Being more overly-wary of the entire world and (sometimes exceedingly) violent are common for lanoctes isolated from their net, though how quickly this happens and how extreme the results are can vary. It should also be noted that, for most lanoctes, the presence of other aliens do not fix this issue, the problem arising more out of the way lanoctes naturally find more comfort out of being part of a hivemind, in addition to how social a species they are. Due to this, lanoctes who lack the positive feeling from being part of a hivemind and 'nodoctes' who lack the normal psychic powers do not have this same problem, further than the normal results of isolating a person from their friends.

Overall, lanoctes are artistic, somewhat 'disorganised' beings who are almost always seen in a partial-hivemind state, due to naturally feeling better that way.

History

Before the hivemind, before lanocte civilisation began, there were, as with any living animal, the prey and their predators.

Though lanoctes are large, powerful herbivores, and thus something few hunters would want to aim for, there was one main type of creature on Bytill that became a major threat to the early lanoctes. The viblets were medium-sized pack-hunting mammals, vaguely resembling spiders, that commonly preyed on lanoctes. Thus, as time went on, the lanoctes became smarter, aiming to evade the viblets, though not getting much smaller. This led to the lanoctes developing sufficient intelligence to begin what could be called civilisation, and society, and it is believed that it is at this point that lanoctes developed their psychic powers. A common theme in lanocte myths from various cultures both present and past is that, at the beginning of everything, a mysterious deity, or multiple deities, either gifted the lanoctes their hivemind abilities or accidentally passed them onto them, though some modern lanoctes agree that the appearance of their powers was likely just an unlikely anomalous event, while others believe that there really was a god who blessed the species as a whole.

Either way, for a long time, lanoctes believed that, given the 'invisibility' of other animals to their psychic abilities, the power to become part of a hivemind was an important part of the steps to becoming a sapient civilisation, though this was, of course, later disproven. For a long time, lanocte civilisation simply developed - individual parts grew, fell, were reborn, and would have likely remained that way for a long time. There have been few major events in pre-space lanocte history, further than the typical discoveries. Wars, though uncommon, still occurred. Despite the 'friendly' idea of lanoctes, when a war happened, it was usually solved through violence, not diplomancy, though the most recent war in lanocte history, barely a century prior to reaching space, was ended peacefully.

Before joining the universe, the modern lanoctes were already close to developing the technology to reach space. Slow, inefficient technology compared to the rest of the universe, but space technology nevertheless. It was, as it would be to anyone, a shock when an alien ship was found to have landed on their own planet, and more of a shock when the living crew were found.

For one, the mysterious aliens were small, the tallest only a little more than a quarter of a single full-grown lanocte's height. But what was more shocking was their minds - though these were clearly intelligent creatures, able to create technology far superior to the lanoctes' own, they were entirely invisible to the lanoctes' psychic abilities. Upon communication (through use of an aftik), it was found that not only were these species as impossible to psychically connect with as unintelligent beasts, they had no such powers at all! After this first encounter, the lanoctes were now able to slowly join the rest of the universe, and were, on the whole, rather bemused to learn that the ability that they had thought to be so universal for intelligent creatures was simply an anomalous part of them.

Faced with such an unfamiliar universe (and one with doors so unfitting for their height), many lanocte nets who had ventured out into space decided to come back to their homeplanet, and chose to stay there. Some, though, preferred to stay out in space and spread their art to as many as possible, and lanoctes still spread out to space to this day. Those who, unnaturally, did not find the state of being in a hivemind comforting, or those who simply did not have psychic powers, also mostly left their homeworld, finding the attitudes towards them better elsewhere.

Overall, the lanocte homeworld itself hasn't changed much from before they joined the universe, visually. Viblets themselves, or, rather, their much smaller descendants, now live in certain locations on Bytill. Unfortunately, due to their intense instinctive fear of the beasts that drove them to intelligence in the first place, lanoctes have hunted viblets to near-extinction many times in history, but the viblet population on Bytill has still managed to survive, and is slowly recovering.

Though once most spacefaring lanoctes were there to investigate what the rest of the universe was like, now most have the same occupations as Bytill lanoctes - that is, many are artists, or in some way involved in the arts. While lanoctes do not do much for the universe as a whole, those that have chosen to venture out into it still persist in spreading their art wherever they can.

Home Planet

Bytill is a relatively normal home planet, though somewhat more tropical than most. There are still a variety of biomes, but most lanocte cities and settlements will be found in the warmer areas. With the exception of the art in every possible place, Bytill is, for the most part, an average homeworld. One should be warned, though, that it is normal for every lanocte in one city to be in a partial-hivemind state, and it is hard for them to keep secrets in this state. Crime still exists, as with any place, but deaths are easily noticed, and witnesses share their knowledge immediately. This is not to say that every single lanocte in each city will be psychically connected to each other, and that all information will be shared, but it is very normal for everyone to learn a newcomer's name very quickly.

Subspecies

Nodocte: Technically not a subspecies, though lanoctes born without psychic powers are labelled as this and usually treated somewhat differently from 'normal' lanoctes, being 'invisible' to their psychic powers. Though rare on the homeworld, most lone lanoctes seen in space will be nodoctes. Lanoctes who dislike being in a hivemind state are treated the same as nodoctes by other lanoctes, though these are not considered 'true' nodoctes.

Special

Hiveminded: Lanoctes have psychic powers, but these powers can only be used for forming psychic connections between minds. In a 'disconnected' state, a lanocte is, well, not connected to anyone's mind, but still has a very vague psychic 'sense' of the presence of other lanocte minds. In a partial-hivemind state, lanoctes are connected, and sharing information with each other, though they cannot be considered one being yet. In a full hivemind state, the usual state with lanocte nets, the lanoctes' minds are, in a sense, merged into one. Until they disconnect, all lanoctes in the net share the same senses, and usually refer to themselves as one being. This ability is specific to lanoctes, only being able to be used with other lanoctes, and has a limit of about eight or nine in a net before it becomes more disorganised and obvious that it is made up of multiple individuals. The psychic powers start to develop into their full form by adulthood, but are present in a much lessened form from early childhood.

Trivia

• Though 'net' tends to strictly refer to lanocte hiveminds, the word 'network' is often used to refer to a generic group of lanoctes, e.g. 'a network of lanoctes and nodoctes'.

• Dyeing certain parts of their naturally-grey fur colours that could be seen as excessively bright is becoming increasingly common for lanoctes, especially spacefaring ones.

• There is no and has never been any known lanocte with psychic powers that can reach planet-wide or powers that can affect non-lanoctes, but these are both common topics in lanocte fiction.

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