{"sf1_id":883840,"sf2_id":null,"title":"The Council of Seven Races","author":"FirriTriah","words":3891,"posted_at":"2015-07-07T20:34:00.000Z","tags":["Fox","Keynari","Pharlan","Sci-Fi","shapeshifter","wings"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/883840-the-council-of-seven-races","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/883840","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=883840\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"A minor update of a work originally written back in 2005 serving as a catalog of races in my universe.\nOriginal version:http://www.elfwood.com/u/kindermatic/story/70dabd30-244e-11e4-9db6-cd411cbc6012/council-of-the-seven-great-races","content":"The year 2371AT on a small asteroid known only as 8941BA small contingent\nof pharlans stood near the back of a massive room carved out of the rock.\nCarpets covered the floors and tapestries hung from the walls each bore the\npharlan governmental symbol, the receding eclipse.  Two pharlans stood out from the armored\nsoldiers standing at attention silence spaced around the perimeter. Unlike the\nlightly armored soldiers, these two were clad in crimson capes secured by\ngolden broaches, with their wings folded over their chests and stood near the\nentrance to the cavern. Glowing lamps illuminated their faces only slightly. One\nwas tall and stately, the other was short and constantly fidgeting. \"Sariala,\nwhy do we have to wear these silly clothes, and when are the other people\ncoming.  I don't want to just stand here\nall day.\" growled the smaller one, pulling at his cape with his talons. \"Have patience\nyoung prince, you will meet the ambassadors shortly, but you must hold your\ntongue, I am doing the negotiation.\" responded the tall Sariala with patience.\"Humph, if that's\ntrue why did father send me with you anyway?\"\"He wants you to\nlearn about the other races and how to form alliances.\"\"Like we need any\nof them . . .\"\"Even the strong\nneed friends, dear prince.\"At that, a new\nscent blew towards them over the ventilation system. It was like a hot burning\nsmell but with the feeling of fire itself, exciting and warm. \"What is that?\"\nblurted out the prince.\"That will be the\nTartarians, wait and watch . . . in silence.\" said Sariala with just a hint of\na growl. As the two of them looked down the long carpeted path they could\ndetect the scent getting stronger and stronger, soon they could sense there\nwere multiple scents of the same kind all mixed in together, as they watched\nfour feathered figures stepped out of the gloom of the entrance. The first two\nwalked in front of what looked to be two Tartarian warriors, mail clad with\nspears in their hands. The feathers of all four were like the colors of magma,\nred, orange yellow and black flaming in appearance. Unlike the pharlans they had\nlong beaks pointed beaks like those of a crane. Their forelimbs\nwere lined with primary feathers that were folded back along the length of the\narms and were crowned with a yellow scaled and clawed three fingered hand at\nthe wrist. Their tails were glorious and flowing filled with orange, red and\nyellow feathers, rising and trailing like plumes of lava as they walked. The\neyes of the Tartarians seemed to burn like fire and the glances the warriors\ngave caused the pharlan guards to inch their hands just slightly nearer to\ntheir sheathed swords. The largest one of the group wore what could only be\ndescribed as an intricate largely black dress with beads and sparkling gems\narranging in spectacular wave-like patterns. \nShe was flanked by\nsmaller and nearly as extravagantly dressed individuals who seemed to be her\nattendants. As she entered the room she looked it over from one end to the\nother and exclaimed in an irritated, yet somehow beautiful voice, \"Well! Only a\nbarbarian race would call a council meeting in a place like this.\" Sariala\nwalked forward towards the Tartarian lady and as he approached her he bowed,\nextended his taloned hand and said \"Welcome to the council meeting hall. You\nmust be Lady Aie'oleiwe. I am Sariala.\" \"Of course you\nare,\" she said curtly taking his hand and bowing herself, raising her tail into\nbeautiful burning fountain. \"Perhaps if you put a bit more emphasis on the last\n'E' in my name you would have it nearly perfect. Still you did an amazing job\nfor a pharlan.\" As she rose from\nher bow she seemed to wear something resembling a smile at the corner of her\nmouth. She caught sight of the young prince hiding slightly behind Sariala and\nsaid \"Now who's this then?\" Sariala deftly used his long tail to push the\nprince towards the lady.\"Uhh\" he stammered\nfor a moment as his pure blue eyes beheld the bejeweled creature. Steeling\nhimself he said stoutly, \"I am Akena son of Dakathire, Queen of Rona.\"\"I see,\" she said\nlooking down her sword-like bill at him. She lifted her head and announced in\nher high and powerful voice, \"The young prince is here to view the proceedings,\nwhy is the Queen herself not here, does she not care enough to mingle with the 'lesser\nraces'?\"\"No my lady, she\nwas called away by an emergency meeting of the senate. She will arrive here\nlater this week. These are only the preliminary meetings. Now if you please, I\nmust greet the other ambassadors, make yourself at home, refreshments are over\nnear the wall to your left.\"\"I see, so is\nthere something other than dead beast on the menu?\" she said ruffling her\nfeathers slightly and looking at him intensely.\"We have gathered\nthe finest foods from all over the quadrant, there is sure to be something\nthere to suit your tastes.\"\"Hmmph,\" she said\npuffing herself up and lifting her feathers a bit. \"We shall see.\" She lifted\nher long feathery tail and she and her whole entourage walked over towards the\nextravagantly arrayed buffet table.As they looked\ndown the dark hallway again they began to pick up a new scent and hear the soft\npadding of small feet coming down the corridor. Soon five tiny furry creatures\nstepped into the room. They were even shorter than Akena, he almost laughed at\nthe sight of them. Their fur was golden orange with black feet and forepaws\nsave the one in the front of the group which seemed to be grizzled and grey\nwith a bit of a beard on his chin, fox-like in appearance. Their brown eyes\nwere shining and full of life. One of the creatures just behind the lead one\nspoke his small voice saying, \"The Keynari delegation from Iristine has\narrived!\"From the buffet\ntable the Lady Tartarian shouted back, \"You don't need to make such a\npronouncement!\"\"Ahem,\" said\nSariala leaning down a bit. \"Welcome to the council hall.\"Sariala was about\nto introduce himself again but the grey fox stepped forward and thrust out his\npaw for a handshake, \"I am Ketzian, you must be Sariala and this must be prince\nAkena.\" said the old keynari in a fast and direct voice.  \"Yes of course,\"\nreplied Sariala shaking the keynari's paw with two of his fingers \"If you would\ncare for refreshments . . .\" began Sariala, but Ketzian cut him short, \"Right\nover there, yes, perfectly obvious. You don't mind if we take some measurements\ndo you?\"\"Uh no-\" replied\nSariala who immediately found himself and Akena surrounded by the rest of the\nKeynari delegation each with hand-held scanners running over every inch within\ntheir short reach. \"Uhh,\" started Sariala feeling terribly strange surrounded\nby the small canines. \"Enough scanning.\"\nbarked the older Ketzian at the other keynari after a few more seconds. \"Thanks\nfor your patience Sariala,\" he said with a sly vulpine smile. They small group\ntrotted over towards the buffet and the round meeting table.  Sariala looked over at the prince and they\nboth stared at one another and smiled.\"How many races\nare coming again?\" said the prince, once the keynari were out of earshot.\"Six in all.\" replied\nSariala quietly. His words were interrupted with what seemed to be a low\nresounding thud. Everyone in the room paused for a moment but then the thud\nrepeated itself. As the vibrations fell rhythmically, the tartarian female\nblurted out, \"Your kind would choose an unstable asteroid!\"\"Nope, nope\nperfectly stable.\" replied the lead Keynari, \"Those are footsteps.\" And so they\nwere, a massive shape appeared in the large doorway. Sharp pointed ridges rose\nover a snake like neck and a scaly horned head entered the room followed by the\nunmistakable form of a dragon.  \"Kralenai!\"\nexclaimed Sariala. \"It is so good to see you. How long has it been . . . 200\nyears?\"With a deep resounding voice and a\nreptilian smile the dragon replied, \"Two hundred and thirty one I believe.\"\"Ahh you have done\nwell for yourself\", said Sariala tilting his head slightly and slapping the\ndragon on the foreleg with his wing.Kralenai leaned his great head down\nand with a grin gently butted Sariala away. Sariala was pushed back, his talons\nskidding across the metal floor and his cape bunching up behind him. Akena\nlooked back at his teacher quizzically. Sariala touched one hand to the floor\nand his tail tip emerged from the cape twitching excitedly.  His eyes seemed to glow like reddened coals\nand he said, \"I see we shall have to spar again sometime my friend.\" He stood straight\nagain stretching his wings out slightly and dusting himself off.  \"I have brought you one of our famous\nGakra'Rek as I promised.  I killed it\nmyself only this morning. I am sure it will be to your liking.\"Kralenai made a\ngreat sound seemingly shaking the entire asteroid, it was only after a few\nmoments that those other than Sariala realized that the huge beast was\nlaughing. \"Very good my\nfriend. Ahh, I see you have given your kill a prime position at the table. I\nthank you. I hope our discussions here will be as fruitful as your hunting.\" With that the great dragon and each\nof the bipedal dragons acknowledged Sariala in turn. They sauntered off as a\ngroup towards the prominently displayed carcass. Sariala walked back to Akena's\nposition.  The young pharlan looked up at\nSariala in amazement.  After an awkward\nsilence he asked in a low tone, \"You are really friends with that thing?\"\"Of course\",\nreplied Sariala staring down at the prince with a disappointed look.\"I can see now why\nyour father and mother so wanted you to be here.\" Even as they spoke several\nnew scents began to waft down the hall towards the two pharlans. Out of the\ngloom appeared a large two legged creature, but not nearly so large as the\ndragon before. This one was tall walking on its toes like the pharlans but had\nfurred paws and skin like the keynari but golden brown like dry grass. The\ncreature's head looked as if cut from a large stone block,  with intense golden eyes and a short shout\nlike a bear's, equipped with gleaming fangs and crowned with a massive mane.  It was muscular and well built with much of\nits skin covered in shining armor. Sariala could feel the prince trying to\nslink behind him again. The creature\nstepped closer, three much smaller beings came behind it which looked very much\nlike humans with only the slightest hint of fur and slightly pointed ears.  Two seemed to follow directly behind the more\nbeast-like creature but the other, which blue in skin color, stood more off to\nthe side and seemed to be looking the room over with extreme care. Finally the\nbeast creature approached Sariala and spoke in a low thick and heavy voice,\n\"Hrotha and Chefik delegations reporting to the council.\" The two smaller human\nlike creatures stepped forward and shook Sariala's hand in turn but the third\nstood back, still eyeing the situation. \"We are pleased to\nmeet a pharlan on, peaceful, terms.\" They said smiling weakly.  \"We are honored to\nhave you here good Hrotha.\" said Sariala looking at both the beast creature and\nthe two human like creatures with a gentle smile. The massive beast chuffed\nloudly and said, \"I need none of your pleasantries, winged one. We are here for\none purpose only, to protect our people from this new threat . . . not to\nbefriend you.\" \"I understand.\"\nsaid Sariala his face emptying of emotion and nodding slightly. The three\nwalked gruffly over towards the central table and sat down near the Keynari and\nTartarian delegations that were already seated. The lighter colored individual\nstayed behind glancing about the room and looking up at Sariala.  \"You must be\nEfrika of the Chefik, correct?\" said Sariala. It finally snapped to attention\nand stared up into Sariala's grey scaled face with its large blue, liquid eyes.\"Uhh yes, correct\"\nit said with nervous intensity. \"I presume you've taken all of the necessary\nprecautions. . .\" as it spoke it looked over the pharlan guards standing in the\nback of the room. It seemed not to be very comfortable with their presence. \"You need not\nworry, chefik this location is perfectly safe and the guards will defend you\nwith their lives if necessary.\"\"I see . . . \" it\nsaid with a sigh.\"Please have a\nseat, the last of the representatives will arrive shortly.\"  The Chefik nodded affirmatively and walked off\nbut it did not look to be reassured. Akena peeked out from behind Sariala's\nwine red cape and asked, \"That big thing and the two smaller ones, are\nthey  . . .the same? They smelled very\nsimilar.\"Those are the\nHrotha, \"They come in two forms, the smaller weak one that you saw and the\nlarger beast one but they are the same species. They are ploidomorphs like the\nGakra'Rek. I believe you will learn about them in your biology class sometime\nsoon.\"\"Oh okay. . . do\nthey taste like Gakra Rek?\"Sariala raised his\ncrest and looked down at Akena, \"You should not think such things my prince.\nSentient races are not for eating.\"The prince scowled\nand grew silent. Finally an audible clicking began to come from down the hall,\nit sounded like the impact of claws on a solid floor. To the amazement of the\nprince what looked to be a human clothed in a white robe flanked by a pair of\nfour legged eagle-like kennedir equipped with oversized dewclaws on their\nforelegs. But the scent of\neach of the creatures and of the human was virtually identical.  Akena looked up at Sariala but his face did\nnot belie any surprise or wonder.  \"Welcome Hazaeki, to the first\nCouncil of Seven.\" said Sariala as the small group drew near. \"I see we are the\nlast to arrive.\" said the human looking creature. Its robe seemed to almost\npulsate as it moved and its skin was of an almost unearthly smoothness.\"Yes we are nearly\nready to begin,\" replied Sariala\"Good, I'm afraid\nwe have no need of your refreshments.\" The human and two creatures walked over\nto the table the human sat down immediately but as Akena and Sariala watched\nthe two beasts began to change. They seemed to suddenly become rounded like a\nball, their color becoming reddish and then almost as quickly rose up and\nformed into human like creatures. One was clothed in armor while the other had\na thin semi-transparent robe and looked to be a lithe female. These two took\ntheir seats on either side of the first robed creature.  Kralenai laid on\nthe floor to one side of the table still licking his lips from the Gakra'Rek he\nhad consumed. His two lieutenant dragons were seated in chairs next to him,\nsitting bolt upright with stone cold expressions on their faces. Sariala and\nthe prince walked over to the table. Sariala took his place at the head and had\nAkena sit in a seat next to him. Sariala adjusted his cape and folded his wings\ninto a more comfortable position. Finally he spoke.\n\"I would like to welcome all of you to this first Council of Seven.  I believe we all know why we have come here\ntoday. We are here to discuss a new threat to all of our peoples. Many of you\nhave reported being attacked by a new and unknown enemy. First I would like\neach of us to share our own experiences with these creatures.\" Sariala paused\nand looked over towards the lady tartarian who seemed to be fidgeting in her\nseat. \"Lady Aie'oleiwe,\nperhaps you would like to begin?\" She shook her head slightly and said, \"I will\ndefer to my commander of the Nakala.\" A smaller tartarian began to speak in a\nclear and melodious voice, \"I am Oaserikele, commander of the first battalion\nof the Nakala. We first met the creatures in battle approximately 3 months ago\nat the outpost of Bralenai on our southern continent. They appeared out of\nnowhere, our planetary defenses were not alerted. They slaughtered many\ncivilians in Bralenai before the Nakala were called in. They seemed to\nprimarily be using their own natural weapons as those that were killed bore\nmassive claw marks. Many of those that were only injured died after a short\ntime; leading us to believe the creatures may be venomous. When we met them in\nbattle they seemed to be like ghosts, able to disappear and re-appear behind\nour lines. When facing the Nakala they began using energy weapons of some kind.\nThose individuals that we caught glimpses of appeared somewhat like the\nRyukaissen here but they did not have wings and were of a very dark color. So\nfar as we know we were unable to slay any of them and they retreated of their\nown accord. We suffered one\nother very similar attack on one of our more northerly settlements but the\nattackers fled before the Nakala could engage them.\"\"Hmm I see,\" said\nSariala.Kralenai spoke up\nand said, \"Our experience was very similar, two attacks on remote settlements.\nWe know that least two of the creatures were killed by our warriors but the\nsurvivors apparently took the fallen ones with them. We are still investigating\nthe attacks and have not come to any conclusions about the nature of the\nattackers.\"The large and\nbeastly hrotha growled and spoke \"We too were attacked, one of our orbiting\nresearch outposts. Every one of our scientists was killed. Whoever they were\nthey managed to break into our databases. We are not sure what data was\naccessed since most of the records were heavily damaged.\"The Hazaeki leader\nspoke and said, \"Thus far we have not suffered attack but we felt it was\nimportant for us to participate in these discussions.\"\"That goes the\nsame for us.\" said the chefik. \"My people desire knowledge of this new threat.\"\"I see\" said Sariala,\n\"Then I will tell you our story. A small facility on Tabra 5 was attacked. Like\nthe tartarian experience, we were not alerted by our planetary defense systems.\nThere were only a few chiara guarding the station at the time but both they and\nthe scientists fought admirably and repulsed the attack. A few months later we\nwere attacked again on one of the space stations near Rona itself. This time\nthere were lashanka nearby. They were able to arrive sufficiently quickly to\nentrap some of the attackers. We discovered that they were utilizing ships\nequipped with cloaking devices. We were unable to destroy or capture the ships\ninvolved but we were able to capture several of the attackers. They took their\nown lives before we were able to interrogate them but we were able to perform\ngenetic analysis on their remains. But perhaps before I continue with my\ndiscussion, we could hear from the Keynari delegation.\"\"Are you trying to\nimply that we know something about these creatures?\" roared one of the younger\nKeynari with rage. \"We don't know anything about them and the very idea that we\n. . .\" The older grizzled fox calmly interrupted the tirade of the younger.\"Sperti,\" it said\nsoftly \"You speak out of ignorance.\" The younger keynari stopped short and grew\nsilent. Ketzian continued in a slow deliberate tone, \"I have been authorized by\nmy government to reveal this information. It has been a well kept state secret\nfor many, many years. The creatures you have fought against are species 953\nfrom our bioweapons program. They were created approximately 300 years ago,\nprimarily as protection against pharlan aggression.\" Suddenly the fox\nwas interrupted by a shrill screech from the tartarian female. She stood up,\nstretching out all of her feathers and pointed at Sariala with her talons, \"I\nknew it, I knew your race would somehow be the cause of all of this!\" she was\nbreathing hard, seemingly consumed with burning rage. Sariala remained\nseated and spoke calmly, \"We are not here to address the injustices of the\npast. The cause of this problem cannot be changed or prevented. We must find a\nsolution to this enemy which is here and now. If you will allow the keynari to\ncontinue, perhaps he has insights to share with us.\" Lady Aie'oleiwe stopped\nand sat back down with a sharp huff. \"Species 953,\" continued the fox\n\"Was created using ryukaissen and keynari sequences as well as data from\nseveral non-sentient species. They were designed to be intelligent, aggressive\nand quick evolvers. Their typical generation time is only about 12 years. They\nwere kept in a base on the moon of the 5th planet of our system. Unfortunately by the time we had developed\nsufficient numbers of species 953 to be effective against pharlans, hostilities\nhad already subsided. It was decided that they should be kept on the moon base\nand kept in constant training.  This\ncontinued until the year 1357 AT.  In\nthat year there was a disturbance at the base. When our forces arrived all of\nthe caretakers were dead and Species 953 was gone. We searched for them but\nthey were nowhere to be found. We had not seen or heard anything of them until\nonly last year when we were also attacked.\"There was silence\nin the massive room for a short time until Sariala finally broke it. \"Did you\nengineer this species with any control mechanisms?\"\"Yes they were\nengineered with a sensitivity to a particular chemical, however we have yet to\nsynthesize a sufficient quantity of the chemical for a test. We are also\nconcerned that the large number of generations that have passed since their\nescape may have allowed them to evolve resistance to the chemical. One of the\nsites that was attacked was in the process of synthesizing the chemical.\"\"Were they made\naware of this sensitivity?\" asked Sariala.\"Not as far as we\nknow but it is possible that they somehow acquired this knowledge.\"\"Well in any case\nit seems that the production of this chemical should be our highest priority.\" said\nSariala, there was agreement from all sides of the table. \"Now I would also\nlike to propose that we begin sharing intelligence fully and that we begin\nlinking our planetary defense systems so that all of us can respond together to\nany attack.\"Lady Aie'oleiwe\nfolded her arms across her chest and said \"Humph I suppose you want to use this\nas an opportunity to redeploy your forces across our worlds again.\"The other members of the table shot\nsharp glances toward Sariala.  \"We will not\nredeploy our forces to other worlds unless you request them. That will continue\nto be the case. But an integrated network of intelligence gathering will allow\nus to track the movements of this species and coordinate our counter attacks. I\nalso believe we should continue these meetings beyond the duration of this\nweek. I think it will lead to greater trust and unity between our peoples.\"There was hearty\nagreement to this across the room. Sariala continued his discussions in more\ndetail during the week and the council of seven was established as a permanent\nfixture of pharlan government."}