Selay (species)
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The Selay are reptoid species inhabiting a planet of the same name located in the Beta Renner System along with the Anticans, with whom they have long been hostile.
Personality
The average Selay tends to alternate between being oblique and conniving or talkative and obsequious. They can be clever, and above all things look out for themselves. If conditions appear to be to their benefit, a Selay will stick out his neck to get the job done, but not too far. Once circumstances turn against them, they either deny or redirect; if a Selay believes he can do something, he'll follow through until it's no longer advantageous to do so. And once he backs out, he'll claim some misunderstanding, or deny he made any promises.
Selay are extremely territorial, which attribute their long-standing conflict with the other spacefaring species in the system, the Anticans. Males in particular display a ritual fighting style to try and intimidate rivals, rather than actually coming to blows.
Physiology
Through some accident of evolution, the Selay share characteristics of both humanoids and cobras (and unlike the Cardassians, retain much of their reptilian ancestry). Standing slightly taller than humans, 2.1 meters on average, the Selay possess a distinctive vestigial hood, slitted eyes, and fangs. Their scales range in color from dark green to black. Like their lower order cousins, the Selay cannot tolerate the cold and are most active when they are warm. Yet they also possess distinctive mammalian qualities; arms and legs, hands with opposable thumbs, and they reproduce by bearing live young.
Selay have an acute sense of smell and can follow a trail by using it. Having evolved on a heavy gravity world from a mostly-cartilaginous species, they have strong, well-developed muscles but their cold-blooded physiology tends to make them sluggish. They possess retractable fangs they use to deliver venom. They also possess an unusual organ that allows them to sense heat, detecting presence, location, and temperature at a 90-degree angle from their front. This is not the ability to see heat, but to feel it. But, like other reptiles, the Selay do not like the cold, and become lethargic when their body temperature drops.
History & Culture
Selay and Antican civilizations evolved along similar timetables, and they developed both advanced astronomy and space flight at about the same historical moment. From their earliest times, though, Selay shamans would gaze up at the stars and weave tales about the god-like beings who lived among them. When Antican ships actually appeared in orbit around their planet and turned beam weapons on their major cities in 2304, however, any illusions the Selay had about achieving mystical communion with alien beings disappeared. Time and again, the Anticans tried to crush their neighbors, but war roused the Selay's anger and determination as they had never known before. But just as the Anticans could never deliver a decisive blow against them, neither could the Selay launch an effective counterattack, since Antica's frigid climate proved quite hostile to the cold-blooded Selay. And so war continued for 60 years.
The Federation first became aware of the Selay in 2364, when they petitioned the Federation Council for admission. Since first achieving spaceflight, the Selay fought a war with their neighbors, the Anticans, for reasons even they have forgotten. As the first Federation starship surveyed the Beta Renner system, they encountered a Selay starship. During this initial encounter, the Selay learned of the Federation, and the Federation learned of the Selay conflict with the Anticans. As a condition of their membership, the Selay were required to make peace with the Anticans, and a delegation traveled to Parliament aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise-D to negotiate an end to the hostilities.
Unfortunately, the negotiations didn't appear promising, as both sides demonstrated animosity towards each other. Protocol demands made by both sides required the two delegations to reside on separate decks, and shipboard security remained constantly vigilant in keeping the Selay and Anticans apart. Both diplomats bickered frequently with each other and crewmembers over practically every aspect of the voyage. At one point, it appeared as though the two delegations came to blows.
Once on Parliament, after several months of tedious negotiations, the Selay agreed to a treaty with the Anticans, and soon afterwards were granted Federation membership. The Selay government has violated the treaty with the Anticans several times, and each time the Federation has made clear the benefits (and responsibilities) of membership in order to reign them back in.
Since then, the Selay have regarded the Anticans with wariness. They appreciate peace, but the scars of so many years of war heal slowly, if at all. They maintain diplomatic contact with Antica, but other forms of cooperation come few and far between, usually in the form of furtive initiatives by lower-level government functionaries and private individuals. Trying to make friends with Anticans can make on unpopular on Selay. The Selay tend to regard the Federation as guarantors of the Beta Renner Treaty, and they take complaints about perceived violations to them rather than confront the Anticans directly.
Since their acceptance into the Federation, a handful of Selay have served Starfleet as counselors and the UFP as diplomats.
Society
The Selay do not maintain close families. Males and females come together once a year to reproduce, with the male abandoning mother and child soon after birth. Selay males split time between broods that they have fathered, and they are less intimately involved with caregiving. Mothers raise their young, eventually abandoning their children sometime during adolescence. Selay society is matriarchal as result. Selay are expected to fend for themselves afterwards.
This social structure more or less replicates itself in Selay political structures as they have traditionally been ruled by hereditary female monarchs on the local, regional, and global level. Despite their inability to maintain strong social ties, and their propensity to uphold agreements only as long as they remain beneficial, the Selay maintain a unified government. The Selay practice a traditional Athenian democracy, in which every citizen votes on every action their government takes. They choose the leaders of their Central Committee based on who makes the most extravagant and attractive promises. Because all members of society register their opinion, everyone votes according to their own self-interest. The female monarch is revered as the great mother of the tribe or the entire race. Her civil authority has been supported by the religious authority of a male shaman. The shaman channels the Selay gods and he carries a certain moral authority and receives affection from the queen's subjects for his story-telling. But his word does not carry the force of law.
Selay society is extremely independence-minded. They have a highly developed sense of autonomy, in which every Selay is free to pursue whatever he or she wants, so long as it does not upset the social order. The Selay tolerate rogues and refuse to extradite criminals as a matter of sovereignty. If the person commits no crime on Selay soil, he is considered innocent. And, they note, the Federation charter gives pre-eminence to local law.
The Selay like to think of themselves as a race of dreamers and storytellers. Their shamans do not tell a single myth of their creation. Instead, they tell many competing myths that their predecessors have thought up through the generations. Indeed, they and their contemporaries come up with new ones all the time, usually under the influence of visions that they receive at their holy places. Their natural reptilian sluggishness also makes them good listeners, as they usually aren't in a hurry to go anywhere. This makes them more than willing to sit and hear a tale for a while, especially when the weather is cold. All Selay love a good story, and the more longer and intricate, the better.
Because of their limited energy, Selay do not like to engage in frivolous activities; they do not play sports of any kind, though they enjoy a complex board-game called Thiss. Selay society is geared towards results, with individuals pursuing activities that have measurable outcomes. They don't do anything "just because" and they require frequent rest.
Finally, Selay prefer to take their meals alone. They consume various small prey animals bred solely for their consumption, which they like to kill themselves and swallow whole. Their architecture is angular and cyclopean, characterized by high towers and massive, irregular stone blocks.
Reference(s)
- Bridges, Bill, et al. Star Trek Roleplaying Game Book 5: Aliens, Decipher, 2003. ISBN: 1582369070.