Citer

The Citer, Myxocitrine Sapiens, are a sapient species of plant from the planet Ciru, in the Ninu Warymi region of the Milly Way.

Biology
The Citer are unique among sapient races as they are not animals. Rather, the Citer are plants. Their bodies are composed of a thick, viscous citric acid gel protected by a thin elastic coating. The gel reacts to electric current, moving and flexing like muscle. Through the gel runs a large, wood-like endoskeletal structure which allows the Citer to stand up straight. The endoskeleton can be manipulated, forming new limbs and body parts. The Citer prefer to stand on two legs in a vaguely humanoid shape, though lacking a head. In the chest of the Citer are three red orbs, serving the purposes of the brain and eyes. The orbs are connected to various nerves, which run through the body and allow the Citer to move their limbs and feel touch. Citer eat by absorbing food into their bodies and dissolving it with the inherent acidity of citrus.

The Citer have the unique property of being able to absorb biochemicals into their bodies and utilizing them to change themselves. For example, a Citer who absorbs wood or other cellulose will grow large wood extrusions, and a Citer who absorbs caffeine will become volatile as their gel becomes an explosive compound.

Citer reproduce by planting seeds and can photosynthesize energy, but are predominantly carnivorous when sunlight is unavailable.

Average Citer
The average Citer citizen of the USSK lives in a small ceramic tree house or a Confluence apartment block. The Citer live simply, with only a few cooking utilities, a television or personal computer, and a public transportation ticket. For their work, many Citer are employed as food producers, who use their gel to rapidly accelerate the growth of crops on agricultural colonies. Still, most Citer prefer to live in agrarian communities on terraformed planets throughout the USSK's holdings. Citer don't wear clothes.

Prehistory
The Citer began their existence as a sapient species clinging to a large group of trees near the equator. The trees were able to provide them shelter from predators and allowed them to draw nutrients from the massive root systems. However, as time went on, the climate began to shift. The temperatures at the equator fell very slightly, but drastically enough to doom the tree colony. As the Citer searched for a new host, they realized that nutrients may be absorbed by consuming other living matter. They soon moved into less forested areas, constructing crude traps and weapons to catch meat. They also began constructing shelters, mostly in the form of early wattle-and-daub tree houses built into canopy.

Early antiquity
The first Citer communities were tribal monarchies; the monarch, called a Star-seed in reference to their strange speckled seed pods, would dictate the community and secure meat, sunbathing grounds, water and building supplies. The Star-seeds were limited by an unwritten constitution that declared the well being of other tribe members could not be compromised in favor of the monarch's. Technology during this time was crude, but improving; stone tools had been phased out in favor of stronger, sharper and lighter chitinous tools scavenged from large insect species. They had also perfected the bow, transforming their limbs into sturdy wooden bows and using their gel as a very tight string.

Late antiquity
The antiquity era began to decline following the discovery of cooking meat. Cooking allowed Citer to absorb nutrients faster, as uncooked meat took hours to digest in their gel. With the ability to spend less of the day eating, Citer began to explore the world around them and more esoteric concepts. Following their ability to sit and think came music, writing, pottery, weaving, and most importantly, shipmaking. The Citer used chitin trawls to build incredibly fast, lightweight hull canoes and catamarans. Because they do not need to eat (for the most part), Citer explorers were able to cross the oceans away from their home island and settled other continents.

Classical Era
The Classical era began with the discovery of copper smithing. While copper was not nearly as convenient as chitin tools, it was significantly stronger and could be made much sharper. With sharper and more durable tools available, Citer were able to cut more wood to build homes, allowing for much larger populations. It also made mining and digging more feasible, and some Citer cultures moved underground and lived on the roots of trees rather than the bark. Also, great developments were made in philosophy and science thanks to scholars such as Shajb Too Meekrith, who proved the curvature of Ciru as well as the fundamental theory that the sun is central to the solar system.

The Era of Terror
All good things must end, unfortunately, as was demonstrated to the Citer rather early in their history. The blossoming Laputan Merchants' Federation, then known simply as the Laputan Board of Directors, understood very early on that Ciru contained extremely valuable resources in the form of the Citer themselves. Their gel would prove a cheap, infinitely renewable source of stem cell-like biological matter, massively important to genetic development and modification of crops. In the Earth year of 2748 BCE, the LBD sent its modest armada to invade Ciru and use the world as a farm for gel as well as a research institute for genetic modification.

However, this wanton aggression didn't go unnoticed. The UUPC took immediate notice of the war and pushed aggressively for harsh sanctions against the LBD both militarily and economically. Due to the Maloki's unwillingness to intervene in essentially anything, the UUPC took justice into their own hands, declaring war upon the LBD and sending their own fleets to Ciru to defend.

The war lasted for 20 Earth years, ending in a resounding LBD defeat. Ciru's distance from Laputa, coupled with the still-inefficient wormspace drives of the time, meant that supplying an "overseas" war was simply unsustainable. There was also the extremely efficient utilization of alien technology by the quickly-advanced Citer guerrillas; many fighters carried both a coilgun and an obsidian glaive. Following LBD withdraw from the system, the UUPC brought it upon themselves to assist the Citer in their continued existence in the new, infinite universe. They were given technologies such as FTL travel, advanced metallurgical processes and alloys, medicinal and environmental devices as well as a large shipment of modern weapons should they face any more foes. Soon after, the Citer began to spread outwards, forming the USSK in 1927 BCE.

Culture
The predominant Citer culture is heavily influenced by the climate and environment of their homeworld. The sun, waters and rainforests are seen as sacred and not to be touched. Citer also greatly value sustainable living, and small, simple housing with few possessions is socially encouraged. Selflessness is also highly valued; many Citer rip of pieces of their gel to feed starving people of other races, and most of their rocket fuel is made by self-sacrificing Citer whom have had their gel infused with caffeine.

Citer religion predominantly revolves around the worship of the sun deity Issatho, the night deity Hadas, and the animal diety Imoho. Issatho guards over the Citer, assuring them the sunlight they require to grow. Hadas conflicts with Issatho, being the darkness which starves plants. Imoho is a neutral diety, representing animals which both consume and pollinate plants.

Government
The USSK, the United Star-Seed Kingdoms, is the main representative body of the Citer species. It is a collection of united chiefdoms, tribal federations and kingdoms, led by the unified people via a representative monarch, a Star-Seed. The Star-Seeds are a unique variant of Citer; their gel is thin and watery, yet a reflective, metal-like shade of amethyst. They rule through a loose, direct democracy, acting as the representative of the collective. It is somewhat socialistic in its economic doctrine, with modern industrial and spacefaring capabilities built up by the Ulopaka.

Homeworld
The Citer homeworld of Ciru is closer to its star than Earth, as well as much younger at only three billion years old. It has a warm, wet, tropical environment planetwide. The oceans are relatively acidic compared to earth, giving rise to resilient species of shellfish and coral in the seas and large, shelled and chitinous insect life on the surface. The plant life is also rather primordial in its development, growing to massive sizes and contributing to an exceptionally oxygen-rich environment. Massive, volcanic mountain ranges dot continents and islands, constantly recycling old crust and extruding new, molten material from the core. The gravity is approximately 0.9g.

Presence
Citer presence in the galactic stage is rather feeble comparatively to other members of their neighborhood. They are, however, well respected as terraformers and environmental engineers, using their gel as fertilizer for barren stretches of land. Notably, they play a massive part in the rebuilding of Earth's now perilously damaged ecosystems such as the former Amazon rainforest, bringing plan life back to the area on scales not seen in 20,000 years.

City Planning
Citer cities are usually in the form of small, agrarian settlements built in canopies or above bodies of water on stilts. Houses and other buildings are composed of brightly colored ceramic material, which is both lightweight and durable. Roads are usually in the form of gondola rails or wooden suspension bridges; water is drawn through the roots of trees when applicable through siphoning technology as well as atmospheric collectors. Many Citer settlements lack electricity, which is typically supplied through solar power and caliometric burners.