Laurelai Co-Op

All things related to the sci-fi universe of the Laurelai Galaxy.

[rhobi]

eight months of artistic stagnation can only be solved by drawing fat alien porpoises

[laurelaicoop]

What is the Audi language like? Love the species, by the way.

The Audi language, Aomisk, is unique compared to other Laurelai species' languages because the Audi's is purely spoken. Audi are essentially completely blind in adulthood (and have really bad eyesight in childhood), so Aomisk has no writing system. Luckily their longevity, excellent memories, and strong family ties means they have preserved a very rich oral history for thousands of years. However, in more recent times, Audi have taken to using recording systems for preservation purposes.

As for structure/sound, it's very East Baltic. Think Latvian more specifically, though i've used Estonian as inspiration as well!

[laurelaicoop]

New and improved Traveler's Jhabber with a corresponding Traveler's Sign chart as an added bonus. Since half the main cast of Threshold People sign fluently (and one signs exclusively) and Earth plays no part in the universe I've made, I have to make that language from scratch too! Some worldbuilding tidbits under the read more.

Traveler's Jhabber is the official Universal Language of the LIPA (Laurelai Inter-Planetary Alliance), and anyone going through flight certification, from pilots to engineers to diplomats, is required to learn it. Traveler's Sign came a bit later and was also added to the required curriculum, though, unfortunately, most people stop using it once out of the academy unless it serves a practical purpose for them.

Logograms are exclusively for the written form of Traveler's Jhabber. You'll always find a logogram of one of the alien species directly next to proper nouns so you can keep track of who is what, who owns what, and where it all came from. The language-identifying logograms are used less frequently in everyday texts.

[laurelaicoop]

An Amora Maran riding on the back of one of Frontier's ungulates, the plains irullo. Due to the huge amount of stress sitting upright can put on a Maran spine, their saddles are styled in a quadrupedal manner to maximize comfort.

[laurelaicoop]

The most displeased, crunchiest man alive.

[laurelaicoop]

Being the first non-native individual allowed into Aodilea in several centuries, Thu has spent the past five years cataloging the life and culture of the Audi to (with permission) show to colleagues on the outside. Sometimes they're not exactly up to professional standards, but not everything has to be business.

[laurelaicoop]

Quadrupedal locomotion of mahl and marans.

Marans can walk bipedally, but it sacrifices both speed and comfort since the upright position causes a great amount of strain on their extra-long weasel spine.

[laurelaicoop]

A quick spread on everyone's overall language proficiency.

Traveler's Jhabber and Classic Jhabber are essentially the same language, just different dialects. While vocabulary, grammar, and spelling are different, an individual who speaks Classic could clearly understand Traveler's and vice-versa as long as they have the patience to decipher each other's thick accents.

Tawleng is the official spoken language of the Sulengouti, which features high amounts of gesticulation. Thu's in training to serve as their inter-species ambassador during the plot of Threshold People.

[laurelaicoop]

Portrait of two Sulengouti on the surface of their dying planet, Tinus.

[laurelaicoop]

Where did Thu get that scar?

Thu generally likes to keep an aura of distant professionalism, but that doesn't stop her from messing with people from time to time.

[laurelaicoop]

The remainder of the primary cast of my story, Threshold People. Featuring a weaselly engineer, a person who's seen too much, and Corrin's omi (sire parent).

[laurelaicoop]

To date, the Mahl are the only species in the Laurelai Galaxy that utilize organic hybrid technology of any kind. Due to organic tech being a massive resource sink that requires a lot of time and patience to develop, it's understandably very unpopular. However, the Mahl find value in organic tech. This ranges from being a safer alternative to long-distance space travel to simple aesthetic appeal.

Mahl relationships with their tech is similar to an owner's relationship with their pets. Understandable, considering it would take over a decade of diligent care to grow organic components similar in size to the one shown above.

[laurelaicoop]

Von's a Parsi hybrid mixed with a non-mammalian species and is considered a statistical impossibilitiy, which is something he's been reminded of his whole life. The only way he managed to survive into adulthood was people intervening, though, unfortunately, this wasn't always done with his best interests in mind.

[laurelaicoop]

All of Laurelai's predominant languages in one handy graphic!

Travelers Jhabber is the 'standard' (or 'universal') language for all those who do authorized interplanetary space travel. It helps in having a common tongue between multiple species.

[laurelaicoop]

Tenekaster is main metropolitan city in the LIPA Zone, which sits at the Frontier/Aodelia border.

Valatsïn became the first Audi to have a permanent residence there, making her pretty famous. They had to switch to terrestrial biology for the sake of convenience, but the Aodelian ocean is where her heart always lies. You can't separate an Audi from the ocean all life was born from!

[laurelaicoop]

Places an offering a babies onto the table as I've been preoccupied with writing Threshold People for the past few weeks.

[laurelaicoop]

saw something about hybrids? 👀 what's that about?

Parsi humans are the only species that seem to have any ability to hybridize with other species, but it's such a statistical miracle that a hybrid fetus would make it to term without self-aborting due to incompatible genetic features. More often then not the human egg just self-destructs on its own before any sort of fetal development begins in the first place. Needless to say, hybrids are extremely rare (think like a 1 in 10,000,000 chance of being viable), and each one has very unique medical issues that make finding specialized care very difficult even with Persis' incredibly robust healthcare system. No two hybrids are the same even if they share the same parent species combination.

I'll take the time to get into the medical disaster that is Von at a later date, because that dude's a mess.