The Kyattoni have been on my mind for several days now because I just finished a revision pass of The Humanity Experiment.  I suppose that if you create alien species, you have to love them in some way, even if they're the bad guys, rather like Frankenstein and his monster, though it wasn't the monster who was the bad guy.  I adore the Trarsani, of course, but the Kyattoni fascinate me.  They're different from humans in so many ways that the Trarsani aren't.

Physical Aspects

The Kyattoni are generally regarded as the second most neotenous Population-K race in the known universe, right behind the Trarsani.  Experts say that the median young Kyattoni adult is isomorphic with the median 14-year-old human.  However, unlike the Trarsani, who can present a persona that allows them to be mistaken for children, the Kyattoni routinely baffle the more hypermorphic races.  Jaxidreshny isn't yet fully grown, yet only once, when they first meet, does Erik even entertain the thought of her being 13.  He settles on 15 or 16 in his mind, though he soon learns that those numbers mean nothing.  When Triknikanthy appears at his house, all he can do is place her somewhere from 10 to 15, which he finds befuddling.  The Kyattoni simply present too many mixed signals for someone raised on a single-culture environment such as Earth to make sense of them.

Although the Kyattoni are clearly Population-K (proved beyond a doubt in Labyrinth of Space), they push the capacity of the Population-K genetic metacode to its limit.   There are more variations in their biology than can be accounted for by their position on the pedomorphic/hypermorphic development spectrum.  Many of the variances, such as serrated pupils, are typical among the more neotenous races, but there are others that stretch credibility.  Unfortunately, to expose them here would be too much of a spoiler.

The non-polar regions of Kyatton are more than 90% coniferous forest, and there is relatively little land mass in the tropical regions. Therefore, like the Trarsani, the Kyattoni have little skin pigmentation.  Like other neotenous races, they don't develop body hair beyond the juvenile stage except for pubic hair, and paradoxically, theirs is always dark.  Hair color ranges from milk chocolate to black, with highlights in various shades of deep red.  Their hair is mottled, like a leopard's, though in most cases the shades are so close that it's hard to notice.  But there is Jaxidreshny's friend Nikilinthy, whose hair Erik thinks is particularly beautiful.  He once described it as mahogany inlays in teak.

Though not as obvious as with species such as the Talosians, the Kyattoni have larger eyes than humans, and the difference is noticeable with a close look.  Their eyes are invariably deep walnut brown.

Psychological and Social Nature

Like virtually all of the more neotenous races, the Kyattoni are non-competitive.  They have no sports teams, never had a war, and never invented money.  Like the Trarsani and the Kria-Ki, they have no laws in the sense that humans do, but they are more strict than the Trarsani by far in following established protocols.

Though non-competitive, the Trarsani and Kria-ki can kill with utter dispassion when necessary.  The Kria-Ki destroyed the entire Noryx civilization (Korvoros) and of the eight humans that come face-to face with cute, lovable Nekalee, three survive the encounter (A Hierarchy of Gods).  Not so the Kyattoni.  They are physically revulsed by violence; it can cause them debilitating distress.  That's not to say they can't handle it if necessary: the Kyattoni enforce peace throughout their galaxy.  They don't necessarily intervene in every petty conflict on every primitive world, but any attempt to export such behavior to other worlds is invariably unsuccessful.

Kyattoni family and friends are extremely close.  They will often be found cuddling for no apparent reason, and exhibiting grooming behaviors like many terrestrial primates, such as picking lint out of each other's hair, to a much greater extent than humans usually do.  They may dress each other, and when same-sex students shower together, they often help wash each other.

Kyattoni Sexuality

If there is one aspect of Kyattoni nature that sets them apart from other Population-K species, this is it.  However, the exact essence of it falls into that spoiler mentioned above.  For now, let's just say that it is of such a nature that by comparison they wonder why humans bother with sex at all.

The highly neotenous races are exclusively heterosexual and tend toward androgynous behavior relative to humans.  But the Kyattoni push both of these to the limit.  Though virtually unknown among the others, gay sex is physically impossible with the Kyattoni.  The exclusive heterosexuality among the most neotenous races has nothing to do with their generally higher intelligence, nor their non-competitiveness, but is connected to their nearly absolute monogamy, and the Grand Scheme of the Universe.  You'll have to wait until Tetragrammaton to find out more about this.

One of the points that seems confusing to humans is that in light of absolutely polarized sexuality, the Kyattoni are just as absolutely androgynous.  Although the other neotenous races put little to no effort into gender differences, it is safe to claim that the Kyattoni have no gender identity at all beyond knowing what set of genitalia they possess. There is no difference between clothing (other than that underwear is cut differently), no difference in appearance, no difference in preferences.  There are no gender roles of any kind.  Young children tend to play with each other and not toys, but when they do play with things, there is no difference between them.  No pink and blue; no "masculine" and "feminine," and like the Trarsani and Kria-Ki, no "he" and "she" in their vocabulary.  Nekalee tells Lesley that she wants to "feel female"; Jaxidreshny would have no comprehension of what "feeling female" means.  Check out this picture of Triknikanty and Rezhalinda.  You can only tell them apart by their general body shape, and that isn't always obvious underneath those formless frocks they wear.  That males never develop facial hair doesn't help either, but you can tell that Rezhalinda's shoulders are squarer.   His hair is slightly shorter only because he cut it more recently.  The color of their boots means nothing.

The Kyattoni have been described as the sexiest species in the universe, though humans might look at them, not knowing the whole truth, and disagree.  From their viewpoint, however, it might explain why they have no need for gender differences.

Kyattoni Odds and Ends

Kyattoni Names

Names are always four syllables long, and their usage is full of sexual innuendos.  That girls' names always end in -y and boys' names in -a might suggest one vestige of gender identity, except that it ties in with the sexual usage of names.  And it is sometimes useful to know by name whether a person is male or female.  There's a long list of variants that express combinations of friendship, sexual relationship, and pregnancy.  A few years in the future, Triknikanthy and Rezhalinda do become bond-mates, and she calls him, depending on the circumstances, Rezhalinda, Rezh, Lind, Linda, Rezha, or Rezhda.  I might write another post someday to explain all that.

The Kyattoni and their Wands

You are unlikely to see a Kyattoni without his or her wand, that thing that looks remotely like a flashlight but isn't.  Well, it is a flashlight in a sense, as long as you understand it is also a phone, a vehicle, an entire kitchen, a computer, a teleporter, a wardrobe, a grocery, a hospital, and if need be a weapon and shield.  Typical household wands operate at second-order unit field technology with a second-order infinite-energy antispace power source, but the mission-grade wand carried by Jaxidreshny operates at seventh-order with a fifth-order power source up-converted as needed.  Even a second-order unit can instantiate anything made of ordinary matter.  They're not thought-controlled, and probably wouldn't be even if the Kyattoni really knew how to do that; they're wiser than the Krell.

Kyattoni Exploration

Back in the old days of the Triumvirate, it was the Trarsani, not surprisingly, who took the lead in space exploration.  It was they who made contact with both the Kria-Ki and the Kyattoni.  But in the aftermath of The Dissolution, the Kyattoni decided that it was their responsibility to learn all they could about the universe.  As of the time of the series, their navigation grid extends to about 45 billion light-years, and surveys are fairly complete out to about 1.5 billion.  That's about 4 quintillion cataloged worlds, about five percent of which are inhabited.

The Weird Kyattoni Clothing

Those scintillating patterns of light on their frocks are not just decoration; they are a network of first-order biomedical circuitry that is constantly monitoring critical organ systems.  Yes, they consider genitals to be a critical organ system, and if you look closely at the picture, you'll be able to make out circuitry on the shoulders to aid in brain scans.  This circuitry assists in maintaining proper homeostasis, and to make minor repairs.  Kyattoni clothing also helps to keep the individual clean.  Those short frocks do little to protect the privacy of underwear, and to some extent this is by design.

 

All things considered, I wouldn't mind too much being Kyattoni.  How about you?

 

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If there is one aspect of Kyattoni nature that sets them apart from other Population-K species, this is it.  However, the exact essence of it falls into that spoiler mentioned above.  For now, let's just say that it is of such a nature that by comparison they wonder why humans bother with sex at all.

The highly neotenous races are exclusively heterosexual and tend toward androgynous behavior relative to humans.  But the Kyattoni push both of these to the limit.  Though virtually unknown among the others, gay sex is physically impossible with the Kyattoni.  The exclusive heterosexuality among the most neotenous races has nothing to do with their generally higher intelligence, nor their non-competitiveness, but is connected to their nearly absolute monogamy, and the Grand Scheme of the Universe.  You'll have to wait until Tetragrammaton to find out more about this.

One of the points that seems confusing to humans is that in light of absolutely polarized sexuality, the Kyattoni are just as absolutely androgynous.  Although the other neotenous races put little to no effort into gender differences, it is safe to claim that the Kyattoni have no gender identity at all beyond knowing what set of genitalia they possess. There is no difference between clothing (other than that underwear is cut differently), no difference in appearance, no difference in preferences.  There are no gender roles of any kind.  Young children tend to play with each other and not toys, but when they do play with things, there is no difference between them.  No pink and blue; no "masculine" and "feminine," and like the Trarsani and Kria-Ki, no "he" and "she" in their vocabulary.  Nekalee tells Lesley that she wants to "feel female"; Jaxidreshny would have no comprehension of what "feeling female" means.  Check out this picture of Triknikanty and Rezhalinda.  You can only tell them apart by their general body shape, and that isn't always obvious underneath those formless frocks they wear.  That males never develop facial hair doesn't help either, but you can tell that Rezhalinda's shoulders are squarer.   His hair is slightly shorter only because he cut it more recently.  The color of their boots means nothing.

The Kyattoni have been described as the sexiest species in the universe, though humans might look at them, not knowing the whole truth, and disagree.  From their viewpoint, however, it might explain why they have no need for gender differences.

Kyattoni Odds and Ends

Kyattoni Names

Names are always four syllables long, and their usage is full of sexual innuendos.  That girls' names always end in -y and boys' names in -a might suggest one vestige of gender identity, except that it ties in with the sexual usage of names.  And it is sometimes useful to know by name whether a person is male or female.  There's a long list of variants that express combinations of friendship, sexual relationship, and pregnancy.  A few years in the future, Triknikanthy and Rezhalinda do become bond-mates, and she calls him, depending on the circumstances, Rezhalinda, Rezh, Lind, Linda, Rezha, or Rezhda.  I might write another post someday to explain all that.

The Kyattoni and their Wands

You are unlikely to see a Kyattoni without his or her wand, that thing that looks remotely like a flashlight but isn't.  Well, it is a flashlight in a sense, as long as you understand it is also a phone, a vehicle, an entire kitchen, a computer, a teleporter, a wardrobe, a grocery, a hospital, and if need be a weapon and shield.  Typical household wands operate at second-order unit field technology with a second-order infinite-energy antispace power source, but the mission-grade wand carried by Jaxidreshny operates at seventh-order with a fifth-order power source up-converted as needed.  Even a second-order unit can instantiate anything made of ordinary matter.  They're not thought-controlled, and probably wouldn't be even if the Kyattoni really knew how to do that; they're wiser than the Krell.

Kyattoni Exploration

Back in the old days of the Triumvirate, it was the Trarsani, not surprisingly, who took the lead in space exploration.  It was they who made contact with both the Kria-Ki and the Kyattoni.  But in the aftermath of The Dissolution, the Kyattoni decided that it was their responsibility to learn all they could about the universe.  As of the time of the series, their navigation grid extends to about 45 billion light-years, and surveys are fairly complete out to about 1.5 billion.  That's about 4 quintillion cataloged worlds, about five percent of which are inhabited.

The Weird Kyattoni Clothing

Those scintillating patterns of light on their frocks are not just decoration; they are a network of first-order biomedical circuitry that is constantly monitoring critical organ systems.  Yes, they consider genitals to be a critical organ system, and if you look closely at the picture, you'll be able to make out circuitry on the shoulders to aid in brain scans.  This circuitry assists in maintaining proper homeostasis, and to make minor repairs.  Kyattoni clothing also helps to keep the individual clean.  Those short frocks do little to protect the privacy of underwear, and to some extent this is by design.

 

All things considered, I wouldn't mind too much being Kyattoni.  How about you?