[OC Training] Arla - Profile

Her Theme Song:  "Embers" - Dex Arson

(Not so much the title or lyrics, but more the mood of the song)

Some good guesses, but as I expected, no one got 100%

She is a scientist, as many guessed correctly since I made that part pretty easy.  She was voted by her own species to take part in a pan-galactic research mission to find and catalogue alien flora and fauna not yet discovered; typically on backwater planets.  She specializes in the DNA structures of various alien species. 

She is the only one of her species on the mission and brings the unique outlook of her kind to the team.  The plant critter on her shoulder in the previous picture is Verm, her pet vermillidae.  He's nice.  He is also not bio engineered and is, in fact, a good example of some of the animal life native to her world.

The final segments of her horns are a loop of pith tissue that are sensory organs. With them, she can tell you of any changes to the atmosphere with pinpoint accuracy.  The pith tissue that resemble hair are also sensory organs and are smooth and warm to the touch. They look glassy but trying to puncture one would be like trying to pierce ballistics gel. 

Arla's species hail from Bellataine, a strange world where early in its evolution, flora and fauna switched roles.  Plants became mobile and gained sentience while animals became sedentary.  They have also switched roles as oxygenator/respirer; her species "breathes" carbon dioxide and produce oxygen through photosynthesis and sugar breakdown.  Most other planets don't have enough carbon dioxide for them to survive, so they need special "respirators" installed in their bodies to convert other gasses to carbon dioxide.

The planet is known for it's strange "plants", which structually are more similar to our animals and contain flesh, blood, skeletons, respitory systems, hair, hearts, etc.  Therefore, the major exports of her world are "animal" based products like furs, meat, dairy products, honey and (surprisingly) beer.

Very few animals that aren't plant-based remain but are limited to insects and a handful of reptiles and birds.

During the guess who task, I kept telling people to take a closer look at the mushroom looking things in the photograph on the wall as what they are made out of is actuallty a massive hint.  The "mushrooms"  actually aren't mushrooms or fungus at all.  They are more biologically like an earth animal than to any type of earth fungus.  If you look closely at the mushrooms, then they are covered in fur.  If one was to take an exray of the mushroom, you would actually see that there's a skeleton underneath all the fur and flesh.  The mushroom actually breathes as well since its got a full respitory system.  It's more an example of the alien life of her homeworld and is not something that she studies.  Her expertise is focused on areas other than the plant like creatures on her home planet.

Other people guessed that her homeworld is "like Mars".  Eh... kind of, sort of, not really.

While there are a lot of arid regions (which are where her species evolved) and Mars-like places with lots of iron in the soil, the planet still has a good amount of running water as well as other geographical features.

Arla is a sypha, a species of alien evolved from succulent plants.  There are three different subspecies, the crassula, the cacta and the azol.  Arla is a crassula, which is specifically based on the crassula ovata (jade plant).  The crassula are easily recognized by their smooth, rounded features and thornless crowns while the other two subspecies have a sharper, more fierce look and more spines.  The males of her subspecies have small barbs lining the leaf-like growths of their arms and legs.

Sypha are not made of flesh and blood.  What we call flesh is what they call bast while what we call blood is what they call pith.  Being the only species like this in the known galaxy, they find endless amusement of the other species made of flesh and bone that they jokingly call "meatbags".  No harm is meant by this as the species are known for being playful and easygoing.  Other species describe them as being as "cheerful as the summer days that they seem to enjoy so much".  Indeed, sypha do enjoy sunny weather as they evolved to be desert dwellers. 

Just don't call them "salad", since it's a racial slur.

I will give more info about her and her species as tasks go on, since some of the trivia about her kind it will tie directly into some of the tasks.