Dog Got Your Tongue - Folician Chronicles 1

Cast of characters and generic definitions

AN:  This is unedited and gives a general idea of parts of the Folician culture.  Take it with a grain of salt since some of it is from Ray's POV and his understanding.  Some will change as the books advance.  As far as the technology I am not going to get into the nitty gritty details since that isn't what I am really aiming for.  

Rayfuso Johnson – vet, had a heart defect, in a relationship with Flitter, father of Flitter’s pups.  Liraqua to Flitter

Flitter – Moves from Flower to Flower - Liraque to Ray, pregnant by Ray

Vyra – Captain of the FSS Dog Star – pregnant with Ray’s pups

Daisy (spring flower) – Liraque to Vyra, pregnant by Ray

Spike – Dancing Wind - Doctor aboard the Dog Star – pregnant with Ray’s pups

Aqua – Still Waters – Liraque to Spike – Gets her name from still waters run deep.  It is a way of saying that they are calm but subtle when working.  Exclusively gay and has no interest in men or having pups.

Birdy – Sings Sweetly - crew member aboard the Dog Star and friend of Ray and Flitter.  She also missed seeing a little brother delivered.  Pregnant by Ray and the girlfriend of Breezy.

Breezy – Gentle Wind – girlfriend of Birdy and friends with Ray and Flitter, pregnant by Ray

Dark Song – renamed Gentle Resolute Song by Ray – crew member.  His renaming her alters his uniform even more and gives him a Liraque tattoo, pregnant by Ray

Dusty – Dust in the wind – named for her coloration.  Junior female in her first heat away from home and missed her little brother being born, pregnant by Ray

Silent Strength – medical tech

The Windham’s, clients of the vet clinic Ray works for, briefly mentioned in book one

Uniforms – Standard ship suits – all suits show rank and status aboard the ship.  They also display names and certain achievements (medals).  Didn’t really get into actual rank structure or jobs.

Gold and cream – line officers aboard the ships.  They are the officers in charge of running the ship.

Red – medical- color of blood the source of life

Green – Life support – color of living plants where the air is purified.  Representive of females because they are the source of the next Generation.

Purple – Liraque – only used by Liraque and when they have a Liraqua traces of purple will be added to the Liraqua’s uniform and the name of the Liraqua will be added to the Liraque’s emblem on their left chest.

Brown –  Represents the color of the soil that plants grow in.  Indicates a male.  Darker brown indicates a pack father or potential pack father.  A lighter brown indicates a non-pack father.

Males come in two categories related to rank in the pack.  They are either a pack father, very rare, or a junior male.  Pack fathers are the leaders of a family group and takes care of and maintains the pack.  Not as important now as in the past since the world is unified.  Junior males make up the balance of the males and due to the discrepancy in births the majority of them are maintained at various temples or pack harems.  They are kept in a bower/harem type setting.  They are provided food, activities, access to games and news. 

Females only have one color-green.  Since their rank in a pack is mostly derived from age and training they don’t have a rank indicator.  Pack Fathers have special abilities similar to Liraque but only used within the pack.  Females fill the vast majority of rolls on Folicia.  They are the workers, scientists, administrators and ship’s crew.  Rarely will a male decide he wants to live and work in the woman’s world.

Folicians – resemble Inu’s from Japanese myths.  They have a short muzzle in place of a nose with a slightly bifurcated upper lip and whiskers on the muzzle.  They also have dog ears and a tail.  Their skin is pattered in ways that would show if they had fur.  As an example Flitter has markings on her skin similar to what a husky might have.  Their hair also comes in a wide variety of shades and textures.  Other than the facial features and tail the largest difference is the shape of the pubic fur which is a diamond and hangs down between their legs depending on what breed of dog they might resemble.  There are subtle differences in the underlying bone structure and especially their legs but with normal clothing on it doesn’t show a great deal.

They have been in space for thousands of years but till the issue with the declining birth rates and especially declining male births became apparent they mostly used their tech for defense and to travel between their colonies.  Once the change in birthrates became blatantly noticeable they turned to exploration to try and identify why.  With all their tech they have not been able to identify or resolve this issue.  What really bothers them is the fact that the males are healthy and fertile, there just isn’t enough of them.

Liraque – a special group of Folicians and comprise a very tiny slice of the total population.  Due to the imbalance between males and females there are virtually no male Liraque.  A Liraque is essentially a priestess of the various goddesses.  In Flitter’s case the Goddess of fertility and comfort.  A Liraque takes on a Liraqua (client) for varying amounts of time depending on why they have the client.  It could be to deal with medical issues, are in a high ranking position, diplomats, and many more.  This doesn’t mean they are all assigned to a senior Folician since they are drawn to the clients they can best serve.  A Liraque works in a way as a personal assistant but with much broader limits.

They can take care of things such as appointments, cleaning, ensuring proper nutrition, bathing, sleeping with or next to, and most importantly emotional comfort.  That is the ability that sets a Liraque apart from other Folicians – they can sense the emotions of others and using their abilities mute and help their client deal with them.  What the Liraque brings to the relationship with the Liraqua is between the two of them and is never the same as other clients since each Liraqua is unique.

One position a Liraque always fills is when Folicians mate for child bearing purposes.  This ensures the pregnancy should be relatively problems free, reduces genetic defects, and if needed blocks a pregnancy for a variety of reasons.  A Liraque cannot act as a Liraque when she is attempting to get pregnant.  Another Liraque is needed to stand in.

Liraqua – client of a Liraque and can be from any level of society.  Many do tend to be in the upper government since their decisions impact on the entire race. 

Technology – they use nanotech in virtually all aspects of their society.  On the planets it isn’t used as much as in the space forces or space habitats.  On the planets it acts as a health monitor, nano-computer, memory storage, communications and control links.  It provides access to their version of the internet and for education.  It is initially implanted when a child is old enough to control basic functions which is about 5 years old in their terms.  Before then they do have a very basic installed version from when they are born.  This is strictly limited to medical monitoring and communications with emergency services and their parent(s).

The nanotech is also used in building the foundation and structures of their cities.  It is used for removal and disposal of wastes as well as recycling.  The energy to power this is Zero Point Energy which has a high start-up cost but very low production costs once a plant is working.  They do have fusion plants as well but those are mostly used in locations that only have a small population and don’t need massive quantities of power.  Fusion is also used in space ships as well since it provides more than enough energy for all services as well as the FTL drives.