Dragandr

The Valaquentii, and their evolution, the Elda Valaquentii, are a race of hybrid repto-mammals from the planet Ainulin. They have existed since the beginning of the Second Age, and thus have a rich history, with their evolution, contact with other alien species, and subsequent choice to become observers of the stars intertwined within each other.

Overview
The Valaquentii are a race of peaceful draconic like creatures that seek knowledge of the universe. Not intrested in conquest or economic power besides that of substaining themselves, the only true goal that the race has is simply to understand the world around them and the universe beyond better. They gladly share knowledge to those who wish to understand the universe, however; if the knowledge is used for things like war or slavery, the Valaquentii will not give anymore information, and defend their world fiercely from said races.

Appearence
Regular Valaquentii are relatively large humanoids, with grey or white hair and lightly tanned or pale skin. They have eyes in the front of their heads allowing for depth perception; eye colors usually range from yellow to green to the rare blue. Also, due to their similarity to eyes of felids, including a tapetum lucidum, they have excellent vision in the dark, though in light it is harder for them to see. Because of this, a flash of extremely bright light can stun an average Valaquentii for a few seconds.

Being omnivores, Valaquentii have teeth that are similar to that of a human's, with incisors and molars. They also have five fingered hands, with short pointed nails.

Valaquentii are tall due to their past, where they had to evolve to reach high fruit, and where enemy beasts were larger. Adults, both male and female, usually reach about 6 feet in height, and weigh about 200 pounds at most. Also, due to a slightly higher gravity than normal (both Ainulin and Taerra have double the gravity of a normal planet), and thus are more muscled than other species, in order to move themselves. This has resulted in the Valaquentii being quite durable, able to take a hit that would stagger a normal weighted being. Also, a Valaquentii is strong, able to lift about a ton on average, though Valaquentii warriors are able to carry and throw over three tons.

The IQ of a Valaquentii is very high. However; it does take some time for a Valaquentii's brain to fully grow and mature, and thus for about a quarter of their lives, they cannot use their brains to their full potential. Thus, growth often takes decades, usually around 200-250 years before the mind develops fully. Also, once a Valaquentii's brain is fully used, they can evolve into Elda Valaquentii

The appearence of a Elda Valaquentii varies greatly, as it is partially decided by the evolving Valaquentii in question, and also on genetics. Generally, all Elda Valaquenti are draconic in nature, with a reptillian like head. Most have wings, and both leg apendages and arm apendages. However, there are Elda Valaquentii who have only leg apendages, some that have just wings, and some that have only a serpentine body, flying by either special armor or by releasing energy from behind them to propel them. The hair has gone, but the gene for the hair changes to scale color.

The weight and size of a Elda Valaquentii varies greatly due to the various forms, but they range from 20 feet to just about 200 feet in height, and from 300 to almost 1000 pounds. Due to their massive size and weight, Elda Valaquentii are not very active, preferring to rest rather than do activity. In fact, the only reason an Elda Valaquentii does not become sluggish, fat, and unactive is because of the hibernation chrysalis, which transfers fat as well as energy and waste to the earth. This is also how most Elda Valaquentii eat, as their massive size would require a ton of food each day just to barely sustain them, which would be terrible costly on the enviroment.

Also, all Elda Valaquentii use their brain at full capacity, making them extremely smart, usually having a greater IQ than regular Valaquentii. Since the Elda Valaquentii youth are the regular Valaquentii, maturity is already reached and thus Elda Valaquentii are already mature.

Something common to both Valaquentii and Elda Valaquentii is language and pronounciation. They speak their native language fluently, however; in other alien languages, they often have a hard time pronouncing harder or harsher sounds, as their thin tongues aren't big enough to completely make the sound. The result is a lisp that the Valaquentii and Elda Valaquentii have when speaking in other languages.

Biology
The Valaquentii were originally a species of lizards on Ainulin. However; a visit by an unknown alien species evolved these lizards into the first of the Valaquentii, known as the proto-Valaquentii, before leaving for parts unknown. Over time, they evolved into their current form by natural selection. The predators that hunted the proto-Valaquentii became less and less threatning as the proto-Valaquentii became more muscled and stronger (Valaquentii were originally hunted easily because of their small size and weal muscle structure). It was then that the proto-Valaquentii started mating with a similar species, the Elda. They had been the same race untill the aliens' visit. Though they hadn't been evolved by the aliens like the Valaquentii, they had evolved on their own. Because the youth of the Elda were so similar in genetics and appearence to the proto-Valaquentii youth, interbreeding soon occured. Soon, both species were united again as the union of the two produced the omega-Valaquentii, which are the Valaquentii and Elda Valaquentii known today.

Valaquentii age extremely slowly, a trait gained from the Elda. The oldest known regular Valaquentii was over 2000 years old. Elda Valaquentii live even longer, on average of 8000 years. One was known to live for 10000 years before dying of old age.

Of course, one cannot talk about the Valaquentii without speaking of thier chrysalis ability. It primarily serves two functions. The first and foremost is the chysalis hibernation. This was a fusion of the genetic codes for the Elda's chrysalis and the Valaquentii's hibernation, resulting in a almost perfect hibernation technique. The way it works is that the Valaquentii or Elda Valaquentii makes a cocoon around itself, using a special hollow spike at the end of thier tails. Once cocooned, they fall into a deep sleep, and the cocoon begins growing roots, much like a plant, except that some of them go into the Valaquentii's skin. Then, the cocoon sustains both itself and its host Valaquentii by recycling and reusing energy and food from the earth or the air around it. Waste products are diffused out, and energy is diffused in. And since it recycles the enrgy into the earth, the ground or air never loses anything important. Also, because of this recycling of energy, the Valaquentii ages very, very, very slowly. Thus, using this, a Valaquentii can live almost infinitly. The one drawback is that if the cocoon is disturbed in any way, either by cutting or bruising the cocoon, it will unravel and the Valaquentii is forced to wake.

Another major use of the chysalis is the change of a young Valaquentii into a Elda Valaquentii. Once a young Valaquenti's brain is fully developed, they can make a growth chrysalis and, over 3 years, evolve into Elda Valaquentii. They can partially control how they evolve, in terms of shape and slight structure differences, but generally genetics does most of the choosing.

A regular Valaquentii needs about 7 hours of sleep. They are more active in the night, often taking naps during the day. An Elda Valaquentii needs almost twice as much, about 14 hours of sleep. Often they take a week long nap a few times a month in order to reach this neccessity.

Females and males are generally born equally, but males are more likely to be born.

Early History
The Valaquentii were originally a species of lizards on Ainulin. However; a visit by an unknown alien species evolved these lizards into the first of the Valaquentii, known as the proto-Valaquentii, before leaving for parts unknown. Over time, they evolved into their current form by natural selection. The predators that hunted the proto-Valaquentii became less and less threatning as the proto-Valaquentii became more muscled and stronger (Valaquentii were originally hunted easily because of their small size and weal muscle structure). It was then that the proto-Valaquentii started mating with a similar species, the Elda. They had been the same race untill the aliens' visit. Though they hadn't been evolved by the aliens like the Valaquentii, they had evolved on their own. Because the youth of the Elda were so similar in genetics and appearence to the proto-Valaquentii youth, interbreeding soon occured. Soon, both species were united again as the union of the two produced the omega-Valaquentii, which are the Valaquentii and Elda Valaquentii known today.

Later History
After the creation of the omega-Valaquentii race, a great drought caused by an irregularly long solar eclipse caused much of the life on the planet to die, including many of the Valaquentii. It was only stopped when the planet's moon was broken in half by a passing comet. Once the drought was stopped, the Valaquentii took advantage of the world's shape to start civilization, and eventually restore the planet to its former lush self.

Unique Diseases
There are a few diseases unique to the Valaquentii.

===Multi-head Cell Splice Disease (Also called Mad Hydra Disease or MCSD) The disease is a result of the Elda and proto-Valaquentii mating. Though it produced numerous good traits, due to their close proximity to each other on the evolution chart, this disease was created as well. It happens when a just matured Valaquentii rushes to evolve into a Elda Valaquentii. They sometimes misguide the evolution, which results in the cells of the head and brain to splice and multiply. This disease in it's mild stages isn't so bad, the most happening is the afflicted Valaquentii's much more wild reaction to sudden things, and thier IQ being much lower than normal. However; at it's worst stages, the Elda Valaquentii becomes deranged and insane. Usually by this time the Valaquentii sadly kill the afflicted one by means of a euthanasia drug.