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THE RP'GU SYSTEM

The centre of the Rp'Gu star system, the home of the Gubprwufu, is the star of the same name. Rp'Gu is a type M0V red dwarf star with a mass some 46% that of the Sun, a radius some 80% that of the Sun, and a luminosity [energy output] of some 8% that of the Sun. Its surface temperature is some 3500K [as opposed to some 5800K for the Sun], meaning that much of the energy it emits is in the infra-red, although enough light is emitted in the human-visible band that humans would have no difficulty seeing under it [its light is redder than that of the Sun, but still less red than that of, for example, an incandescent light bulb which operates at a temperature of some 3300K].

Rp'Gu and its star system are some 4 billion years old, making them somewhat younger than the Sun and the Solar System. Because of its low mass and luminosity Rp'Gu can expect to remain on the Main Sequence for some 70 billion years [as opposed to some 10 billion years for the Sun]. As a mature red dwarf star Rp'Gu does not emit violent flares [which are estimated to occur only within the first 1.2 billion years of the life of a red dwarf star], but it is subject to occasional starspots that can dim it by anything up to 30% and that can last for Earth months.

Three worlds share the innermost orbit of the Rp'Gu system. The largest of these is Gu-Pu-Kra, the homeworld of the Gubprwufu, which is described in more detail elsewhere. The other two worlds orbit in the L4 and L5 Trojan Points of Gu-Pu-Kra, 60° ahead of and 60° behind Gu-Pu-Kra as it orbits Rp'Gu.

Orbiting 60° ahead of Gu-Pu-Kra is the world of Pgduo. This is world some 5250 kilometres in diameter [slightly larger than Mercury in the Solar System]. It orbits Rp'Gu at a distance of some 8.25 million kilometres [0.055 AU; some one seventh of the distance at which Mercury orbits the Sun], taking slightly less than seven Earth days to do so. Slightly less dense than the Earth, Pgduo masses some 3.8% of Gu-Pu-Kra [6.3% of the Earth and sufficiently less than that of Gu-Pu-Kra to allow for a stable Trojan Point relationship, which requires a value of less than 4%] and has a surface gravity of some 37% that of the Earth. Because of its proximity to Rp'Gu, Pgduo is tidally locked to it, and as such rotates on its axis in a period slightly less than seven Earth days long, so that one face of Pgduo always faces Rp'Gu and so is in permanent daylight while the other is permanent night. This means that, although the mean temperature of Pgduo is some -150°C, the point on its surface directly under Rp'Gu reaches some -75°C while the centre of the night side drops to some -170°C. Most of the surface of Pgduo is rocky, but a large ice cap covers some 80% of the night side [some 40% of its total surface]. Because of its proximity to Rp'Gu, Pgduo experiences large tidal forces from it. These are some 120 times greater than the Earth experiences from the Moon, or roughly 40% of those induced in Io by Jupiter. This means that Pgduo is a highly volcanic world, with more than 100 major volcanic regions and extensive lava flows over much of its surface. The glow of its volcanism can be visible from Gu-Pu-Kra. This high level of volcanism means that Pgduo has a thin atmosphere of water vapour and volcanic gases.

Orbiting 60° behind Gu-Pu-Kra is the world of Upopeb. This is a world some 4750 kilometres in diameter [slightly smaller than Mercury in the Solar System]. As for Gu-Pu-Kra and Pgduo, Upopeb orbits Rp'Gu at a distance of some 8.25 million kilometres and takes slightly less than seven Earth days to do so. Again slightly less dense than the Earth, Upopeb masses some 2.6% of Gu-Pu-Kra [4.2% of the Earth; again sufficiently smaller than Gu-Pu-Kra for a stable Trojan Point relationship] and has a surface gravity of some 30% that of the Earth. As for Pgduo, Upopeb is tidally locked to Rp'Gu so that its temperature extremes are much the same as for it. Again similarly to Pgduo, most of the surface of Upopeb is rocky, but an ice cap covers some 20% of the night side [some 10% of its total surface]. Like Pgduo, Upopeb experiences large tidal forces from Rp'Gu, though smaller than those felt by Pgduo, being some 73 times greater than the Earth experiences from the Moon, or roughly 24% of those induced in Io by Jupiter. As such it is also highly volcanic, with some 100 major volcanic regions and extensive lava flows and volcanic glows that can be visible from Gu-Pu-Kra. Upopeb has a thin atmosphere of water vapour and volcanic gases.

Orbiting beyond Gu-Pu-Kra, Pgduo and Upopeb at a distance of some 51 million kilometres [0.34 AU; somewhat less than the distance of Mercury from the Sun in the Solar System] from Rp'Gu lies the planet of Rr-Gupgpopwuug. Rr-Gupgpopwuug is a rocky world some 9500 kilometres in diameter [between the sizes of Mars and Venus in the Solar System] with a density somewhat less than that of the Earth giving it a mass of some 37% of the Earth and a surface gravity of some 67% of it. It orbits Rp'Gu with a period of some 15.3 Gu-Pu-Kra days [107 Earth days] and has an average surface temperature of some -235°C. Rr-Gupgpopwuug has a thin un-breathable atmosphere produced via its moderate level of volcanic activity and some 80% of its surface is covered with ice.

Beyond Rr-Gupgpopwuug at a distance of some 93 million kilometres [0.62 AU; somewhat less than the distance of Venus from the Sun in the Solar System] from Rp'Gu lies the world of Gtapgt-Bappr. This is small, airless icy world whose surface is entirely covered with a thick layer of ice. It is some 4900 kilometres in diameter [roughly the same size as Mercury in the Solar System], and orbits Rp'Gu with a periodicity of some 38 Gu-Pu-Kra days [266 Earth days]. Because of its icy composition, Gtapgt-Bappr has a low density [between that of Ganymede and Europa in the Solar System] giving it a mass of some 38% that of the Earth and a surface gravity some 17% that of the Earth. It has a mean surface temperature of some -243°C.

Beyond Gtapgt-Bappr and centred some 150 million kilometres [1 AU; roughly the distance of the Earth from the Sun] from Rp'Gu lies the first of the two asteroid belts within the Rp'Gu system. Known as the Brpopbeebggt Belt it is some 15 million kilometres [0.1 AU] wide [as compared to a width of roughly 1.5 AU for the Asteroid Belt in the Solar System]. It is mainly made up of rocky and icy bodies, with a minority of ones that are rich in metals. The asteroids have an average size of roughly a kilometre, but there are a small number of larger bodies with the largest being some 1000 kilometres in diameter.

Outside the Brpopbeebggt Belt there is a large gap some 480 million kilometres [3.2 AU] wide, beyond which lies the Gtbe-Wurpfub Belt, the second of the asteroid belts that lie within the Rp'Gu system. Unlike the relatively narrow Brpopbeebggt Belt, the Gtbe-Wurpfub Belt is some 300 million kilometres [2 AU] wide and is centred some 780 million kilometres [5.2 AU; equivalent to the orbit of Jupiter in the Solar System] from Rp'Gu. Like the Brpopbeebggt Belt it is mainly made up of rocky and icy bodies, with a minority of ones that are rich in metals. Its asteroids have an average size of roughly 50 kilometres, with no bodies significantly larger than this, and the numbers and density of such bodies are lower than for the Brpopbeebggt Belt. The orbits of the vast majority of the bodies in the Gtbe-Wurpfub Belt have a significant eccentricity, and many of them are also tilted relative to the plane of the inner Rp'Gu system. This is believed to be an after-effect of the capture of Berrddh-Dbe Ug and Drraprr'Poppoppr.

Beyond the Gtbe-Wurpfub Belt, orbiting on average some 1.8 billion kilometres [12 AU; equivalent to between Saturn and Uranus in the Solar System] from Rp'Gu is the world of Berrddh-Dbe Ug. As far as can be discerned, Berrddh-Dbe Ug is a planet that was captured by Rp'Gu from elsewhere, a conclusion reached because of the high degree of eccentricity in its orbit and the fact that it is tilted at some 56° to the plane of the inner Rp'Gu system, and also orbits in a retrograde direction. Berrddh-Dbe Ug is a huge icy world, a frozen and airless super-Earth some 22900 kilometres in diameter [as compared to some 12742 kilometres for the Earth] with a mass some 5.4 times that of the Earth and a surface gravity of some 1.66 times that of the Earth. It takes some 22280 Gu-Pu-Kra days [61 Earth years] to complete a single orbit about Rp'Gu, and has an average surface temperature of some -260°C. The surface of Berrddh-Dbe Ug is a layer of ice some hundreds of kilometres thick, overlying an interior ocean some hundreds more kilometres thick on top of another layer of ice [which is Ice VII rather than normal ice as found on Earth] which covers the rocky core of Berrddh-Dbe Ug. Because of its high gravity and lack of any accessible materials other from ice, Berrddh-Dbe Ug is a rather useless world.

Beyond Berrddh-Dbe Ug orbits the outermost world of the Rp'Gu system, Drraprr'Poppoppr. Like Berrddh-Dbe Ug, Drraprr'Poppoppr is most probably a planet captured from elsewhere, as its orbit is eccentric and tilted at some 76° to the plane of the inner Rp'Gu system. Also like Berrddh-Dbe Ug, Drraprr'Poppoppr is a huge icy world, a frozen and airless super-Earth some 21000 kilometres in diameter with a mass some 4.7 times that of the Earth. It orbits an average of some 3.8 billion kilometres [25 AU; between Uranus and Neptune in the Solar System] from Rp'Gu and takes some 69032 Gu-Pu-Kra days [189 Earth years] to complete a single orbit about it. Like Berrddh-Dbe Ug the surface of Drraprr'Poppoppr is a layer of ice some hundreds of kilometres thick, overlying an interior ocean some hundreds more kilometres thick on top of another layer of ice which covers the rocky core of Drraprr'Poppoppr. However, in the case of Drraprr'Poppoppr the layer of ice is rather thinner and the rocky core rather larger than that of Berrddh-Dbe Ug, giving it a higher density and a higher surface gravity of some 1.74 times that of the Earth. Again as for Berrddh-Dbe Ug, because of its high gravity and lack of any accessible materials other from ice, Berrddh-Dbe Ug is a rather useless world.

Beyond Drraprr'Poppoppr lies the cometary halo of the Rp'Gu system, and beyond that the depths of interstellar space.

The Rp'Gu system is an unusual one in that it includes no gas giant planets. As such, without any large bodies to clear the space in the outer Rp'Gu system, its cometary halo extends much closer to Rp'Gu than that of the Solar System does to the Sun. On the other hand the lower mass of Rp'Gu and of the Rp'Gu system as a whole means that the density of comets in the cometary Halo is lower than that of, for example, the Solar System, so there are significantly fewer of them. The large planets of Berrddh-Dbe Ug and Drraprr'Poppoppr do provide a level of comet clearance, but this is nowhere near as great as that performed by, for example, Jupiter in the Solar System.

Because of the closer inner edge of the cometary halo, it is more common for comets to be perturbed out of it into the inner Rp'Gu system than in the Solar System. Thus comets, though not spectacular due to the much lower luminosity of Rp'Gu relative to the Sun, are much more common in the skies of Gu-Pu-Kra than in those of the Earth. This leads to cometary impacts with the planets of the Rp'Gu system being considerably more common than is the case in the Solar System.

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GU-PU-KRA

Gu-Pu-Kra as a world is not unlike a more Earth-like version of the real exoplanet Gliese 581 g.

Gu-Pu-Kra is the homeworld of the Gubprwufu. It is a rocky world some 14500 kilometres in diameters [114% the size of the Earth] with a density some 12% greater than that of the Earth, giving it a mass of some 165% that of the Earth and a surface gravity of some 1.27 times that of the Earth. As for its co-planets of Pgduo and Upopeb, Gu-Pu-Kra orbits Rp'Gu at a distance of some 8.25 million kilometres [0.055 AU; some one seventh of the distance at which Mercury orbits the Sun], taking slightly less than seven Earth days to do so.

Due to the small radius of its orbit, from the surface of Gu-Pu-Kra, Rp'Gu appears to be some 7.7° in diameter [some 15 times larger than the Sun does from Earth, covering 225 times the area in the sky]. However, because of the much lower luminosity of Rp'Gu compared to the Sun, it is also much dimmer. From Gu-Pu-Kra both Pgduo and Upopeb subtend an angle of roughly 2 arc minutes. This means that human vision [with an angular resolution of some 1 arc minute] would be just able to resolve them as discs. From Pgduo and Upopeb, Gu-Pu-Kra appears to be some 0.1° is width [roughly 20% the size of the Moon in the skies of Earth], easily resolvable as a disc to a human-like eye.

As for Pgduo and Upopeb, Gu-Pu-Kra is tidally locked to Rp'Gu, and as such rotates on its axis in a period equal to its orbital period of slightly less than seven Earth days long, so that one face of Gu-Pu-Kra always faces Rp'Gu and so is in permanent daylight while the other is permanent night. It has an axial tilt of some 9° [the Moon, which is also tidally locked, has an axial tilt of some 6.7° to the plane of its orbit].

Gu-Pu-Kra has a highly circular orbit around Rp'Gu due its being circularised by tidal forces within a relatively short time (geologically speaking) of its formation. Because of the dynamics of their orbits in the Trojan points of Gu-Pu-Kra, and their smaller masses, the worlds of Pgduo and Upopeb oscillate far more in position and so suffer far larger tidal forces, which in turn drives their extensive volcanism.

Even so, its orbit close to Rp'Gu and the presence of the co-planets Pgduo and Upopeb mean that Gu-Pu-Kra experiences tidal forces significantly more powerful than those felt by the Earth and is perhaps ten times more geologically active than it, with major volcanic eruptions and so on being consequently more frequent. Thus supervolcanoes, earthquakes and so on are a significantly greater driver of Gu-Pu-Kraian evolution than is the case on Earth.

Another effect of this is that the core of Gu-Pu-Kra is rather hotter than that of the Earth and the crust rather thinner. This means that the surface of Gu-Pu-Kra is divided into roughly ten times as many tectonic plates as is the case for the Earth, which of course are, on average, smaller than those of the Earth. These tectonic plates also move considerably faster than those of the Earth [anything up a metre a year, compared to less than 10 centimetres a year on Earth]. As a result of this, there are roughly ten times are many mountain ranges on Gu-Pu-Kra as on the earth, many of which are relatively young and thus relatively high and steep, and correspondingly many subduction zones where the crust of Gu-Pu-Kra returns to the interior of the planet in deep oceanic trenches, so that the surface of Gu-Pu-Kra also has quite a lot of small lakes, island chains and so on. This also means that there are fewer old and stable parts of the crust (cratons), and what there are of these tend to be small. This would hinder any investigation into the geological history of Gu-Pu-Kra.

A side effect of the tidally stirred molten core of Gu-Pu-Kra is that, despite its slow rotation relative to (for example) the Earth, the strength of its magnetic field is some two and a half times greater than that of the Earth [roughly 0.8 gauss as opposed to 0.3 gauss for the Earth], and highly aligned with Gu-Pu-Kra's axis of rotation. This, together with its proximity to Rp'Gu and so the higher density of the solar wind from it compared to that Earth receives from the Sun, means that Gu-Pu-Kra has frequent and very bright aurorae).

Some 76% of the surface of Gu-Pu-Kra is covered with water [as compared to 71% for the Earth]. Even taking this into account, the relatively larger size of Gu-Pu-Kra compared to the Earth means that the land area of Gu-Pu-Kra is some 107% that of the Earth. A contour map of Gu-Pu-Kra shows how this land is arranged on the planet.

The atmosphere of Gu-Pu-Kra is some 2.2 times thicker than that of the Earth. This high atmospheric pressure means that the boiling point of water on the surface of Gu-Pu-Kra is 123°C. In composition the atmosphere is mostly made up of nitrogen gas and contains no free oxygen so that it would be un-breathable to an unprotected human being. It also contains a large fraction of carbon dioxide, water vapour and volcanic gases, in particular sulphur and nitrogen compounds. The atmosphere of Gu-Pu-Kra generates a high level of natural greenhouse effect, some 160% that of the Earth, which raises the temperature of the planet to some 15.4°C [288.5K] sufficiently for water-based life to be possible there. The lack of ultraviolet radiation produced by Rp'Gu means that Gu-Pu-Kra does not have, or need, an ozone layer.

The composition of the atmosphere of Gu-Pu-Kra is, like that of the Earth, very different to what it would be without the presence of life. That is, it is in a state that is largely governed and maintained by the life it sustains. Although its composition is very unlike that of the Earth, particularly in its lack of free oxygen, its composition would still indicate that processes beyond those of a lifeless world are taking place there, even without any other clues that might be present [such as a technological civilisation!].

The chemistry of Gu-Pu-Kra and its ecosystem means that all water there (and so all rain) is somewhat acidic, mainly due to the presence of nitrogen compounds that make it into weak nitric acid [not unlike acid rain on Earth], though with a smaller amount of sulphuric acid mixed in from atmospheric sulphur compounds. It also contains significant quantities of dissolved nitrates, to the point that, were it to exist on Earth it would be classified as suffering serious nitrate pollution. Neither of these factors are, however, a problem for the life forms of Gu-Pu-Kra as they have evolved to live in such an environment.

The long history of life and active geology of Gu-Pu-Kra means that there are plentiful oil and gas deposits on Gu-Pu-Kra. The more active geology of Gu-Pu-Kra compared to the Earth means that there are more of these than on Earth, and also that they replenish faster (though still over geological time!). Of course, oil does not burn on Gu-Pu-Kra but it still has many uses in industry despite this.

The higher gravity of Gu-Pu-Kra means that its atmospheric pressure drops proportionally faster with height than is the case for the Earth [that is, its scale height is 1.27 times lower than that of the Earth], so that the edge of space is only 83.5 kilometres above the surface of Gu-Pu-Kra [rather than 100 kilometres above the surface of the Earth], despite the level at which the pressure of Gu-Pu-Kra's atmosphere is equal to that of the Earth at sea level being roughly 4700m [15400 feet] above the surface of the planet.

Because of the tidal locking of Gu-Pu-Kra to Rp'Gu, somewhat less than half of the land surface of Gu-Pu-Kra lies on the far side of the planet to Rp'Gu, and so never sees direct sunlight, although most of it is not entirely dark. This side of the planet becomes progressively colder away from the terminator between the day and night sides of Gu-Pu-Kra.

Because of its thicker atmosphere and larger mass of water on Gu-Pu-Kra, which helps to hold and distribute heat more effectively than is possible on the airless surfaces of Pgduo and Upopeb, the mean temperature of Gu-Pu-Kra is some -40°C. However, because of its tidal locking to Rp'Gu the point on its surface where Rp'Gu is at the zenith reaches some 106°C - which is not enough for the ocean there to boil - while the centre of the night side opposite this point drops to some -100°C, which is enough for the surface of the ocean there to be frozen. All of this means that Gu-Pu-Kra is far warmer than its co-planets.

In addition to this the temperature of Gu-Pu-Kra can drop significantly during those infrequent times when starspots reduce the luminosity of Rp'Gu by up to 30% for periods of up to Earth months. However, these temperature drops do not cool the planet to the point that the surface of the dayside ocean can begin to freeze [due to the thick atmosphere, high greenhouse effect, large reservoir of heat within the ocean and the active volcanism of Gu-Pu-Kra].

Because of its tidal locking to Rp'Gu, low axial tilt and short orbital period there are no seasons as such on Gu-Pu-Kra. Instead, temperature and weather on its surface are determined by distance from the point directly below Rp'Gu more than by any other factor.

The intense solar heating at the point closest to Rp'Gu heats the air at that point and drives the evaporation of water from the surface of the ocean there. This leads to vast updrafts which form a constant rising column of air which in turn pulls in cooler air from the surface around it. This process drives a vast hurricane centred under the zenith point and extending some 45° out from it so that it covers some 14.6% of the surface of the planet (29.2% of the sunward face). [Note that this hurricane depends on being over an ocean for its existence; as such there may have been periods in the past of Gu-Pu-Kra when the motion of its tectonic plates moved a continent under the zenith point, dissipating the world-hurricane for the duration of its presence.]

On the opposite side of Gu-Pu-Kra, in the centre of the night side, a vast downdraft matches the updraft on the day side. This is not associated with a permanent storm, however.

In between these two extremes the atmosphere is divided into a series of spherical segments, all centred on the zenith point. Unlike the equivalent circulation on Earth, which runs parallel to the equator, on Gu-Pu-Kra it circulates around the zenith point and so is aligned with the terminator.

One difference that humans might well notice about Gu-Pu-Kra is that in most places shadows there are much shorter than they are on Earth. This is because Rp'Gu is so much larger in the sky than the Sun is on Earth. The Sun is some 0.5° wide in the sky; when it is just above the horizon this width means that a shadow cast by it will converge to nothing in a distance of some 115m, which is quite a long distance. Rp'Gu, on the other hand, is some 7.7° wide - some fifteen times larger - and because of this shadows under the same circumstances are less than 7.5m long, and much more obviously converge over that distance.

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THE LIFE FORMS OF GU-PU-KRA

As far as can be ascertained, life on Gu-Pu-Kra originated in much the way as it is speculated that it did on Earth, around oceanic hydrothermal vents. As these were (and remain) more common on Gu-Pu-Kra than on Earth, life evolved somewhat sooner and in more locations than it did on Earth, so that it began, and remains, somewhat more diverse than Earthly life.

Within the first 1.2 billion Earth years of its life Rp'Gu was subject to violent flares. The ultraviolet radiation emitted by these helped to drive the early evolution of life on Gu-Pu-Kra to the point that when the flares died down as Rp'Gu matured, life was sufficiently diverse for evolution to progress without it, driven only by the many other environmental pressures existing on the planet.

[Note that the Earth as a whole was an anaerobic environment for at least the first 3.65 billion years of its existence, before photosynthetic organisms changed the atmosphere into its present aerobic form.]

Like life on Earth, life on Gu-Pu-Kra began as anaerobic, surviving without oxygen, and like it lived in an environment where there was plentiful light energy. This drove the evolution of the process of photosynthesis among the Gu-Pu-Kraian equivalent of plants. However, the photons emitted by Rp'Gu are, on average, of a much lower energy than those of the Sun. As such, when photosynthesis evolved on Gu-Pu-Kra it developed in a different way to that on Earth. The most significant difference between it and photosynthesising life on Earth is that photosynthesis on Gu-Pu-Kra did not generate oxygen [as is the case with some photosynthetic bacteria on Earth]. This has meant that since then, although more complex and advanced life has developed, it has remained anaerobic, using chemicals other than oxygen to allow it to release energy.

Because there are no seasons on Gu-Pu-Kra, plant and animal reproduction tends to occur at a roughly constant level over time, with no synchronisation to any environmental cues, so that there are no mating seasons and so on.

Because of the permanent darkness on the dark side of Gu-Pu-Kra, and the fact that its oceans become dark at a much shallower depth than those on Earth [due to the much redder light of Rp'Gu compared to the sun, which does not penetrate the water as well], the use of bioluminescence for signalling and display is much more common among the life forms of Gu-Pu-Kra than it is among those of the Earth. This is one of the few places where blue light can be seen there.

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BIOCHEMISTRY AND METABOLISM

Like life on Earth, life on Gu-Pu-Kra is based on carbon-based chemicals, DNA and liquid water, and although there are some significant differences between them they are not, at base, entirely incompatible.

Note that the absence of oxygen does not necessarily preclude multicellular life forms. Even on Earth there are types of Loricifera that live in an entirely oxygen-free environment, and on Gu-Pu-Kra, without competition from oxygen-breathing life forms such organisms have become advanced and dominant.

However, one major difference between the life forms of Earth and those of Gu-Pu-Kra is that the process of photosynthesis among the plants of Gu-Pu-Kra uses an equivalent of bacteriochlorophyll rather than chlorophyll [not unlike purple and green sulphur bacteria on Earth]. As such they can photosynthesise using the redder light of Rp'Gu compared to that of Sun, and in particular using infrared light [with a wavelength greater than 700nm], but they do so using a process that does not release oxygen as photosynthesis on Earth does. Because of this, the atmosphere of Gu-Pu-Kra contains no free oxygen, so that all of the life on Gu-Pu-Kra is anaerobic and would in fact be poisoned by free oxygen should they encounter it.

This reliance on an anaerobic metabolism means that respiration among the organisms of Gu-Pu-Kra is less efficient than that of oxygen-breathing life forms, because all non-oxygen-using energy-releasing chemical pathways release less energy per energy source molecule [such as glucose] than their oxygen-using equivalents. This arises from a number of factors:

• The most energetically efficient form of anaerobic respiration uses nitrate instead of oxygen, and releases some 62% of the energy per energy source molecule [1796 kJ as opposed to 2880 kJ, so that 161% as many energy source molecules are required to release the same amount of energy].
• But in addition to this, the mass of the molecules required to anaerobically respire one energy source molecule using nitrate is some 113% of that to respire it aerobically [420 atomic mass units as opposed to 372]. This means that nitrate-based anaerobic respiration requires 182% of the mass of aerobically-respired molecules for the same energy output.
• However, nitrate is not a gas as oxygen is, but instead is a solid compound, and anaerobic respiration also requires water. None of these can be obtained for the air, as oxygen is, but instead must be carried by the organism. Taking this into account means that the mass of food carried by an anaerobic organism would be 233% of that for an aerobic organism [420 versus 180 atomic mass units].

Though it is a limitation, all of the above is not as prohibitive as it may at first appear. For one thing, the volume of the body that in an aerobic organism would be devoted to gas exchange (that is, the lungs in animals), can be used for digestion and respiratory chemical storage. Additionally, the needs of this anaerobic metabolism have driven different eating habits in the life forms of Gu-Pu-Kra as compared to those of the Earth. Thus organisms can generate the same power [energy over time] as those of (for example) the Earth, but must 'refuel' more frequently, with many organisms adopting a strategy of eating little and often.

The use of nitrate-based respiration by most of the life forms of Gu-Pu-Kra has driven a need for nitrate by them, at a level much greater than that provided by the non-biological sources of nitrate in the environment, such as lightning. Even on Earth there are organisms such as nitrobacter which produce nitrates, and on Gu-Pu-Kra the depletion of natural nitrate by other organisms has driven these types of organism to become more widespread and successful, and to evolve the ability to use energy from sunlight to generate nitrates for respiration. As such, there are two photosynthetic pathways used by plants on Gu-Pu-Kra. One pathway is not unlike that used on Earth, in which sunlight is used to create energy-creating molecules such as glucose. The other parallel pathway is used to generate nitrate for respiration, as part of which nitrogen is released into the atmosphere of Gu-Pu-Kra. Although essential for life, the need for this nitrate-creating pathway means that sunlight is effectively used perhaps half as efficiently by Gu-Pu-Kraian plants as by (for example) Earth plants.

Some organisms on Gu-Pu-Kra use other forms of anaerobic respiration, such as those using sulphate and sulphur instead of nitrate [which are both also used by life forms on Earth]. These are much less energy efficient even than nitrate-based respiration, releasing 16% and 12% of the energy per energy source molecule of oxygen-based respiration [so requiring 636% and 865% the number of energy source molecules to release the same amount of energy] and 25% and 19% of that for nitrate-based respiration. Because of this that are only used by a tiny minority of life forms, all of which are microorganisms in niche environments.

A side effect of the limitations on energy supply on Gu-Pu-Kra mean that most Gu-Pu-Kraian animals are cold-blooded, that is, their body temperature varies with that of the environment they inhabit. As cold-blooded animals (at least on Earth) need between half and one tenth of the energy of warm-blooded creatures, they thus require proportionally less food, and so can be active despite their greater food mass requirements. Despite their cold-blooded metabolism, larger animals do maintain a relatively stable body temperature that is higher than their environment by the process of gigantothermy, which in some cases has driven the evolution of larger creatures. This is particularly the case in the colder (darker) regions of Gu-Pu-Kra. Many organisms that live in the darker and colder regions of Gu-Pu-Kra also have adaptations to the cold not unlike those of organisms on Earth.

A very few creatures have evolved warm-bloodedness, either in their whole bodies [analogously to birds and mammals on Earth] or only parts of them [not unlike swordfish on Earth, which warm only their eyes and brain, improving their ability to catch prey], but these are very much the minority.

As part of their anaerobic metabolism, the organisms of Gu-Pu-Kra do not exhale gases such as carbon dioxide. Instead, the by-products of their respiration are solids derived from the bicarbonate and ammonium this process produces. These are excreted along with the normal waste products of their digestion. This means that they excrete considerably larger quantities of solid waste than (for example) Earth animals do.

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SOURCES OF ENERGY

Life on Gu-Pu-Kra is powered by energy that originally derives from one or more of four source of energy available on the planet [two more than is the case on Earth].

• The primary source of energy for life is light from Rp'Gu. As is the case on Earth with the Sun, Gu-Pu-Kra receives far more energy from its local star than from any other source, and thus most life depends on it to a greater or lesser extent. However, the light of Rp'Gu supports only some 15% of the biomass than the light of the Sun does on Earth. This reduced amount of biomass derives from a number of sources:
  • Firstly, because Gu-Pu-Kra is tidally locked to Rp'Gu, only the slightly more than 50% of its surface that ever receives light from Rp'Gu can support photosynthesis.
  • Secondly, the anaerobic biochemistry of the life forms of Gu-Pu-Kra means that the light energy received from Rp'Gu must be used to both photosynthesise energy-containing compounds such as glucose, but also the nitrate that is required for organisms to be able to release that energy when needed. This drops the amount of energy that can used by organisms by roughly a half again.
  • Thirdly, the redder light of Rp'Gu compared to that of the Sun means that its photons average a significantly lower energy than those of the Sun, so that more are required for photosynthesis [for example, "photosynthesis on Earth requires eight photons of visible light to produce one molecule of oxygen, whereas twelve to sixteen photons of light beyond the visible range would be needed to carry out the same task in a modified version of photosynthesis"]. This again drops the available energy.
  • Fourthly, for aquatic plants, the zones of the ocean in which they can live are much thinner than on (for example) the Earth due to the redder light of Rp'Gu penetrating the water less well, limiting photosynthetic plants to a relatively thin photic zone at the surface of the water.
  • On the other hand, the thicker atmosphere of Gu-Pu-Kra means that the density of life in the air, aeroplankton, is higher than that on Earth, giving them a proportionally higher contribution to the biological energy budget of the planet.
• The second most available source of energy for life on Gu-Pu-Kra is chemical energy derived from geothermal processes and utilised by the organisms of Gu-Pu-Kra by a process of chemosynthesis. Taking into account the lesser efficiency of photosynthesis compared to that on the Earth and the greater amount of geological activity on Gu-Pu-Kra, the amount of energy available for chemosynthesis is some 0.8% of that available for photosynthesis [as opposed to it being some 0.024% of solar energy on Earth]. Unlike sunlight, chemical energy is available at a large number of sites over the entire surface of Gu-Pu-Kra, Thus, despite the smaller amount of energy available, it is this that mainly allows life to survive on the dark side of the planet, though in much smaller numbers and at a much lower overall density than on the day side simply because so much less energy is available to sustain it.
• Also derived from the intense geological activity of Gu-Pu-Kra, but distinct from the chemical energy it produces, some organisms exploit the steep temperature gradients that can exist between regions of geothermal activity and the colder regions away from them to generate energy in a process of thermosynthesis. Because of its coldness, and thus the availability of greater temperature gradients, this source of energy is much more widely used on the night side of Gu-Pu-Kra than on its day side. As for chemical energy, steep thermal gradients are available at a large number of sites over the entire surface of Gu-Pu-Kra and so despite the smaller amount of energy available this process significantly contributes to the ability of life to survive on the dark side of the planet.
• Lastly, a number of types of plants have evolved to exploit the near-constant strong winds of Gu-Pu-Kra to generate energy by a process of anemosynthesis [an equivalent of photosynthesis, but using wind energy; 'anemos' is the Greek for wind as 'photo' is the Greek for light; these are basically Turbine Plants]. Although providing a relative low energy density compared to the other three sources of energy, anemosynthesis does provide a near-constant source of energy over nearly all of the surface of Gu-Pu-Kra and thus is used by many plants, often to supplement other energy sources.

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THE HISTORY OF LIFE

The first living creatures on Gu-Pu-Kra were small single-celled organisms that floated in the oceans or were attached to some suitable underwater surface [very similar to what the case on Earth is believed to have been]. These creatures suffered periodic major extinctions from the ultraviolet flares that were a feature of the early life of Rp'Gu.

As anaerobic life evolved in Gu-Pu-Kra, a number of different groups of organisms evolved a number of different anaerobic pathways for obtaining energy, including nitrate, sulphate and sulphur-based schemes [much as was the case on Earth]. One group of organisms evolved the ability to photosynthesise nitrate and because of this - and the fact that nitrate respiration is the more energetically efficient process in comparison with the others - nitrate-using creatures came to dominate the ecosystem of Gu-Pu-Kra. The unwanted (and water-soluble) nitrate they excreted into the sea also allowed other life forms to respire there too.

However [as is also the case on Earth], organisms using the other respiratory pathways continue to exist in niche environments around the planet and because the difference in energetic efficiencies between nitrate respiration and the other anaerobic respiratory pathways is less than that between aerobic and anaerobic respiration on Earth these niches are rather larger on Gu-Pu-Kra than on Earth so that there are a relatively larger number of non-nitrate-using anaerobes on Gu-Pu-Kra than anaerobes generally on Earth.

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DNA EXCHANGE

The first microscopic organisms that evolved on Gu-Pu-Kra could engage DNA in a process analogous to the conjugation that occurs among bacteria on Earth, in which genetic material is transferred between bacterial cells by direct cell-to-cell contact. As is the case on Earth this allowed them to transfer advantageous genetic information between individuals.

Because the DNA that was exchanged included information on gene expression it was a form of memory as this effectively recorded how useful different genes had been in the past. That is, the environment triggered stimuli in the cells that triggered gene expression that made proteins to some related end; that in turn affected the cause of the stimulus, and so on. This information could also be passed on via conjugation. This memory-related aspect of the conjugation also applies because the bacteria that receive the DNA do not take it blindly; instead they judge its worth in some manner before accepting it [as is the case on Earth]. As life evolved the combination of greater volcanic activity and much greater storm activity on Gu-Pu-Kra selected for the utility of this memory sharing among the life forms of Gu-Pu-Kra.

Over time the memory-related aspect of the genetic conjugation drove species apart, as what one species had to 'say' became less and less relevant to more distantly related species. Thus conjugation came to occur more and more between more closely related species, with the transfer of genes for both 'memories' and reproduction occurring at the same time.

In time there was an advantageous mutation in one group of organisms that split the reproductive and memory elements of the DNA exchange into two separate functions thus reducing the amount of energy wasted in transferring unnecessary DNA. Because of this, this method of transferring reproductive and memory DNA separately prospered and spread.

With the evolution of the first multicellular organisms on Gu-Pu-Kra, the exchange of memory-carrying DNA between cells within them remained the main means of intercellular communication. The first such organisms were not unlike an Earth sponge, being large collections of largely identical cells the optimised their overall form for the good of the organism as a whole. On Gu-Pu-Kra the cells within these organisms communicated using DNA released into the water to affect one another as well as the environment [as each one is effectively part of the environment of other cells], but as more complex forms evolved this shifted to the DNA being circulated within the blood of the organism.

This limited to size of animals for millions of years as DNA circulating in the blood was too slow a mechanism to allow control of a large body. It was only with the evolution of a faster mechanism for signalling between separate parts of the body - a nervous system - that life began to increase further in size. Even so, DNA messages were - and are - still widely used in organisms in less time-critical roles, ones that in Earth animals might be carried out by hormones [though among the organisms of Gu-Pu-Kra the DNA messages passed can be far more complex than those passed by hormones among Earth organisms] or the slower parts of the nervous system. In some cases this allows the whole body of an organism to have some (slow) brain-like capabilities as far as information processing is concerned.

Despite the evolution of a circulatory system, many organisms also continued to send and receive DNA packages into and from the water around them, allowing communication with other members of the same species in the vicinity. This meant that in many cases a group of physically separated individuals of the same species could coordinate their behaviour and activities in a manner not unlike an enhanced version of the microbial intelligence that occurs on Earth, becoming a superorganism.

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NOTES ON GU-PU-KRAIAN NEUROPHYSIOLOGY

Note that all of the numbers given here are rough estimates intended to show the plausibility (or otherwise!) of the concept of life forms having a brain which is a DNA-based Turing machine. The results of my calculations here should be taken as guidelines at best, and definitely not as any kind of rigorously-derived truth!

One thing that worried me when I came up with the Gubprwufu was whether a DNA-based memory such as they use would be feasible for a sentient creature in terms of both the amount of storage space available and the speed with which it can be accessed.

To begin, how much information is contained in the human genome [the entire sequence of DNA for the human body]? The human genome consists of some 3.2 billion base pairs, each of which has one of four possible values. To store four possible values two bits are required, so the data stored in the human genome (not taking into account compression and suchlike) is some 3200000000 x 2 bits, that is 6400000000 bits or some 763 megabytes; this is described in more detail elsewhere. For comparison, Microsoft Windows XP as installed and configured requires some 1500 megabytes.

Humans do not have the largest genome of all living things; as far as is known in 2011 the organism with the largest genome is the freshwater amoeboid Polychaos dubium, which is estimated to have a genome of some 670 billion base pairs in size [more than 200 times larger than the human genome]. This is equivalent to some 156 gigabytes of data.

The question now is, how much of an entities experiences could that store? Raw data that is stored as-is would be huge, and so would most likely not be used. Instead, as in the human brain, some form of data compression methods would evolve.

Comparing to video technology, DVDs use the MPEG-2 video coding standard which can compress around two hours of video data by up to a factor of 30. That is, down to the equivalent of 4 minutes of un-encoded data. Video data can be compressed by up to a factor of 100 with little visible quality loss; this would reduce two hours of video to some 72 seconds. Audio data and still images can be lossily compressed by a factor of ten with little loss of quality.

There are 8760 hours in an Earth year; compressing this by a factor of 100 gives 86.7 hours of storage. At 70 gigabytes per hour this implies the need for some 6069 gigabytes per year of storage of memories as highly compressed video. This is some 26 trillion base pairs or 8145 times the human genome (39 times the Polychaos dubium genome) per year.

This may seem like a lot, but it adds up to the DNA of only some 4000 Polychaos dubium cells (or 190000 human cells) for a 100 year lifespan, and a human [or Gubprwufu] body is made up of at least tens of trillions of cells. Even so it implies that [as in the brains of Earth animals] memories are constantly compressed, culled, edited and so on. It also implies that they are probably not stored as something equivalent to video, but in some more compact encoded form.

As in the human brain, the Gubprwufu brain will have redundancy and capacity that is not devoted to memory storage. It will also require its storage to be able to handle the memories of multiple individuals at the same time, something not found in the human brain. So assuming perhaps a factor of 100 for backups [that is, each memory is stored some 100 times over], another 500 for holding the memories of other individuals [this is the size of their basic social unit], and another factor of 1000 for non-memory storage tasks, this makes a total of some 200 billion brain cells - roughly twice as many as in the human brain.

Thus it would appear that the storage capacity for a sentient life form can be achieved. This leads to the second question, of whether the stored information could be accessed quickly enough for it to be useful.

Among life forms on Earth, reading information from DNA is what occurs when a cell replicates. An E. coli bacteria has some five million nucleotide pairs and takes some 40 minutes to replicate this, reading from a single location on the DNA molecule at a rate of some 2000 nucleotides per second [see here for more detail on this]. Human DNA is made up of some 150 million nucleotide pairs which are copied at about 50 base pairs per second; this would take a month to copy if done from a single starting point, but in reality copying takes place from many locations alone the genome, so that it takes an hour or so at an effective rate of some 42000 nucleotides per second.

All of this reading is also done with a very high degree of accuracy [not unreasonably, given that it is used for reproduction of the organism]. For E. coli the error rate is roughly one incorrect nucleotide for every billion nucleotides copied, that is, only one in 200 E. coil bacteria inherits DNA with a copying error in it.

Seven hundred megabytes of data [equivalent to an hour of highly compressed video data] would require slightly less than 3 billion base pairs to store it. At 42000 base pairs per second this would take some 70000 seconds (nearly 20 hours) to read entirely.

For non-reproductive information (that is, memories) a higher error rate could probably be tolerated. Also, cells of life forms from Earth are not evolved for data storage and retrieval using DNA, so living cells optimised for this could probably do better if evolutionary pressure were applied, as is the case on Gu-Pu-Kra. If there were more reading sites (perhaps ten times more) and by tolerating a higher error rate base pairs could be read perhaps ten times faster, for a total reading rate of some 4.2 million base pairs per second. Thus the equivalent of an hour of highly compressed video could be read in roughly 700 seconds, that is, roughly 12 minutes, or perhaps five times faster than living it.

All of the above assumes data roughly equivalent to very compressed video; the use of (for example) text-type equivalents would obviously use even less space and be faster.

In terms of the actual mechanism used by the brains of the life forms of Gu-Pu-Kra, the memory storage DNA is effectively treated as the tape in a Turing machine type of computer, performing a form of DNA computing in which the information stored in each DNA strand is effectively a Computational gene, with the whole brain being multiple parallel intercommunicating such.

In most of the higher life forms of Gu-Pu-Kra, evolutionary pressures have driven the evolution of their DNA processing mechanisms towards greater speed and efficiency, for example by the use of what are effectively multi-tape Turing machines, but also one in which there are cross-links between the tapes. Evolution has also driven the use of more and/or different nucleotides to give more possible DNA 'letters' and so make processing more effective.

Note that these numbers are based on life forms from Earth. On Gu-Pu-Kra, where natural selection has driven the evolution of cellular data storage much more than is the case on Earth, it is quite likely that cells capable of storing more data than any on Earth, or that are smaller for the same amount of data stored will have evolved and form part of the life forms there.

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REPRODUCTION

One significant difference between life as it evolved on Earth and that on Gu-Pu-Kra is that unlike Earth organisms where half the DNA of the parent is transferred to the mate, organisms on Gu-Pu-Kra transfer their entire genetic code to their partner.

This has little impact on reproduction as a whole, but means that rather than each organism having cellular mechanisms to place half of its DNA into each egg or sperm via meiosis [as occurs on Earth], on Gu-Pu-Kra each organism places its entire set of DNA in each egg or sperm. Life on Gu-Pu-Kra was originally hermaphroditic, so where the equivalent of meiosis took place was of little consequence as equal effort was involved in splitting DNA for both eggs and sperm whether one was from oneself and one from another or whether both were from oneself. From these halved sets of DNA an embryo would be created and develop.

It was always somewhat more efficient for only one of each mating pair to perform meiosis. This drove the evolution of animals away from hermaphrodism towards a two-gendered arrangement, with the equivalent of the male simply donating a package of his DNA to the female, who performed meiosis on it and her own DNA to produce offspring.

One side effect of having the entire genetic code to split in half was that the offspring of Gu-Pu-Kraian organisms are always born in some multiple of non-identical pairs, one for each half of each genetic code.

Because of the thick air and strong winds of Gu-Pu-Kra many more and larger organisms there use the wind to distribute their offspring via processes such as ballooning than is the case on Earth.

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SHELLED CELLS

As life developed on Gu-Pu-Kra, one group of single-celled organisms evolved the ability to grow a hard ultraviolet-resistant shell [not unlike diatoms on Earth, though diatoms are not ultraviolet-resistant]. The ability to resist the ultraviolet flares emitted by Rp'Gu gave them a great advantage over the other life-forms of Gu-Pu-Kra and allowed them to come to dominate its day-side ecosystems. Their shells also made them more resistant to damage from storms and also to heat and dehydration, which allowed the shelled cells to become even more dominant, particularly among photosynthetic life.

Over time the advantages of cooperation drove the evolution of multi-cellular organisms made up of the shelled cells. At first simple colonial masses of undifferentiated cells [not unlike Earth sponges], in time cells with specialised roles evolved. Some of these organisms evolved to macroscopic sizes by the use of specialised cells producing internal bony supports - a form of endoskeleton made up of structures of many different shapes and sizes analogous to mesodermal plates [not unlike a starfish on Earth] giving one resembling a skeleton made of a coat of plates - while other cell types within them lost their shells in favour of some other function or functions.

Some shelled-cell-descended creatures evolved to form an equivalent of coral reefs out of their bodies [though made up of single-celled organisms rather than the multi-cellular polyps that form coral reefs on Earth]. These provided the organisms making them up with protection from harsh weather. In many cases evolution and DNA-mediated inter-organism cooperation drove these reefs to become streamlined to enhance their chances of survival. In others they became silt traps, capturing debris from the sea to feed themselves. A few of these designs came to protect central silting pools using a form of naturally evolved water wave invisibility cloak.

One further development that the evolution of shelled cells allowed was for the first microscopic life to take to their air, as aeroplankton. In these cells, evolution drove the development of convoluted and spiked shells to allow the cells to float in the thick air of Gu-Pu-Kra more effectively.

At this point there was no clear distinction between what on Earth are plants and animals. However, over time some organisms specialised as sessile autotrophic 'plants' while others lost the ability to gain energy autotrophically in favour of consuming other organisms that did as herbivores or carnivores. However, due to their common origin all had - and retain - structures far more in common than is the case between plants and animals on Earth.

All this meant that by the time Rp'Gu ended its period of ultraviolet flare activity some 1.2 billion Earth years after its birth [2.8 billion Earth years ago], and the need for ultraviolet protective shells ended, the organisms with them had evolved to use them for a multitude of other purposes beyond that original one, and dominated the dayside biosphere of Gu-Pu-Kra.

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OTHER ORGANISMS

Non-photosynthesising autotrophs in the deep oceans and on the dark side of Gu-Pu-Kra never needed protection from ultraviolet radiation and so were able to compete with the shelled cells and their descendants in these environments. In time they independently evolved multicellularity, and also diverged into autotrophic plant forms and herbivorous and predatory animal forms. When Rp'Gu left its flare-producing stage these organisms were able to compete with the bony types of organisms in all of the environments of Gu-Pu-Kra as boneless worm- or jellyfish-like creatures.

Later still one of these groups of worm-like unshelled animals did evolve a form of hard structures in its body, as grinding and boring teeth. Evolution adapted these to other roles, such as protective armour plates, rigid fins for swimming and in some species a form of partial exoskeleton.

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ANIMAL BODY PLANS

The most successful form of endoskeletal animals became something like a double-ended, three-tentacled sea anemone (or perhaps a crinoid), something a human might call a 'hexanemone'. Most of these held onto to the sea bed at one end and used their arms to catch food at the other. In most species they did not evolve specialisations at each end or permanent attachments to the sea floor due to the rough conditions in the seas of Gu-Pu-Kra, which would uproot them. Remaining in a more general form allowed them to re-attach as required as survive more successfully. However, a number of deep-sea species living in environments where the waters were calmer did develop permanent attachments and specialisation of the ends of their bodies.

A sub-group of these creatures developed a free-floating, and then a free-swimming lifestyle. During the evolution of these groups one sub-group evolved - or perhaps mutated into - a form which was basically two of the double-ended forms attached to one another in the middle, giving the form of a tubular body with three tentacles at each end and third ring of three tentacles in the middle [perhaps a successful conjoined twin form]. A human might call this a 'tritriped' [as it has three sets of three limbs].

Further evolution of the tritriped form led to some becoming something analogous to fish, as part of which they developed bilateral symmetry, while others became more analogous to squid and retained the radial symmetry of their ancestors.

In all of the free-swimming tritripedal animals the part of the body containing the sex organs ended up at the front of the animal, so that as they evolved mating was done with the mouths of animals rather than structures associated with the other end of the digestive tract [as for Earth animals].

Although derived from a very different source to that of Earth animals, most of the animals of Gu-Pu-Kra have a bony skeleton. Their equivalent of a spine is a structure not unlike a stack of three-pointed stars running down the length of the body. The size of the stars and the length of their 'rays' vary depending on the location in the body; long and strong rays are found in particular at the limb joints, where the weight of the body is supported. Elsewhere the rays are smaller, though the size of the 'core' of the star tends to remain similar, for strength. Under the skin, an interlocking mesh of bony ossicles ['scales'] provides some degree of protection from damage. Particularly large and strong versions of these provide protection for the brain and other vital organs.

Animals that live on the night side of Gu-Pu-Kra tend to be both larger and more warm-blooded than their day-side relatives do survive in the cold environment there. They also possess other adaptations not unlike those of arctic animals on Earth, though in many cases of a more extreme form. Some night-side animals use insulated bony stilts to keep their bodies off the ice and so relatively warm.

An effect of the tidal locking of Gu-Pu-Kra to Rp'Gu is that there are no diurnal or nocturnal animals as there is no day-night cycle. As such animals do not have sleep cycles as Earth animals do, but instead sleep as required. For most animals, this consists of spending a percentage of their time 'catnapping' rather than sleeping for longer periods as Earth animals do. Exceptions to this are after periods of particularly heavy exertion, when longer periods of rest may be required.

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EVOLUTIONARY PROCESSES

Within the oceans of Gu-Pu-Kra, creatures used the transmission of DNA between themselves to coordinate the activities of a group or colony as a whole. Initially this was done by static organisms that lived in physical contact with one another, allowing easy transferral of DNA between them. The superorganisms that this process created first appeared very early in the history of life on Gu-Pu-Kra.

However, with the evolution of mobile and free-swimming organisms, the same process occurred, with the DNA memory packages being released into the water to drift from individual to individual. This was quite haphazard, but sufficiently effective for it to be useful. This drove the evolution in plant life of the use of fake DNA packages that produced DNA 'noise' to disable, disorientate and/or confuse their predators. Others mimicked those of (some of) their predators that gave them the memory of 'nothing interesting here', 'I am not appetising', 'you have already eaten me' or somesuch. This drove the evolution of countermeasures to this spoofing among animals, counter-countermeasures to them among plants, and so on. It also led to the evolution of such tactics between different types of plants, and between different types of animals, in particular of parasites, with the insertion of fake memories such as 'this creature is a friend', 'we have always fed this creature' and so on.

All of this drove an arms race and actual battles - between plants and animals, and between groups of animals, fiercer than occurred on Earth [perhaps not unlike the development of virus and anti-virus software on the internet in the real world]. This helped to drive the evolution of intelligence in both individual animals and the colonies of creatures that made up superorganisms.

As part of this, message-carrying DNA came to be carried in surface-coded capsules to enable recipients to filter it according to whether it was from their species or other desirable senders [effectively a form of 'virus checking' to ensure safety]. In some species this coding went further, to identify not just the species of the sender, but also the family and sometimes the individual too, all of which affected the trustworthiness a given package was assigned.

To help them coordinate their activities, some aquatic animals also evolved the ability to generate sounds for the purposes of signalling voices which they used to convey simple, urgent information between individuals more rapidly that DNA transferral allowed, and with greater reliability and area of effect than DNA transfer. These sounds were generated by specialised limbs, to give a range of clicking and popping sounds. As animals evolved onto land they retained these ability for the same reasons as it had evolved in the first place.

As this 'arms race' progressed it drove a major growth in complexity among the organisms within the seas of Gu-Pu-Kra as organisms worked to defeat others and not be defeated themselves.

This led to the development of life on Gu-Pu-Kra evolving via a form of 'punctuated equilibrium', with one group developing some new innovation that gave them an advantage, then stability for a while as that group dominated, until something changed and there was a another burst of evolution and so on.

This would occur among and between all kinds of plants and animals - plants themselves, herbivores, carnivores, parasites and so on - as everything competed on a species- or superorganism-wide level to gain an advantage over everything else. This led to organisms evolving the filtering of DNA packages, package encryption and decryption and other mechanisms to protect their own messages from interference while allowing interference with others.

In some species this process drove the evolution of true individuals as it became, for them, advantageous to not have the confusion of other individuals DNA packages constantly having to be decoded and interpreted, as well as the potential problems of being spoofed. This development began as a form of 'speech impediment' where a group came to encode or decode their DNA packages wrongly, beginning a process of divergent evolution. In others it drove the evolution of closed systems where DNA was only exchanged by physical contact or some other hard-to-spoof mechanism. Other species became 'hijackers', that steal DNA data from others and by interpreting it use it to obtain food, hunt prey and so on.

Colonies made up of some types of super-organisms became very large by cooperating and exchanging information so as to optimise their behaviour, grow and manage their environment in a planned manner under a form of centralised intelligence. Effectively these forests, kelp beds, fish schools and coral reef-like colonies were each a single superorganism, coordinating their activities more effectively than such superorganisms do on planets such as the Earth thanks to the exchange of memories via DNA. Each such superorganism was very long lived - possibly immortal in some cases - and had an intelligence, perhaps at the same level as an Earth animal, slow and distributed, but effective in helping the superorganism survive in a manner more effective than among, for example, the trees of an Earth forest.

Equally large and cooperative were the superorganism predators, parasites and so on of these superorganisms. This quite quickly led to the evolution of symbioses among the superorganisms as superorganisms of different species worked together for mutual advantage, all facilitated by the use of water to exchange DNA packages. This continues in the sea up to the present day, most life there being part of a superorganism of one kind or another.

The complexity of the struggle in the oceans of Gu-Pu-Kra drove the evolution of individual intelligence there. Nothing to the level of sentience, but certainly cunning and the ability to take individual initiative and so on among a number of different groups of sea creatures.

As part of this animals developed egg-husbanding behaviour - that is, caring for their eggs and young - as this increased their chances of their young surviving. As a side-effect of this many of these animals developed more complex societies which facilitated this egg-husbanding, often in groups. With care for the young, some creatures came to care for eggs in their mouths.

Because of the complex and much more hostile and well-defended environment of the sea compared to that of Earths oceans, the oceans of Gu-Pu-Kra are a much more hostile environment to life within them and life intruding into them than is the case on Earth. Because of this, most underwater animals on Gu-Pu-Kra live socially and many of them live in what are basically fish-hives [the fish-hives of Gu-Pu-Kra].

Some groups of animals evolved to become what are effectively 'memory thieves', a number of different types of creature that have evolved to process the DNA packages of other species to extract memories from them and so gain useful skills and other information. Some of them are scavengers - corpse eaters that gain DNA from dead organisms. Other are literally memory thieves that make off DNA memory packages by stealth or theft. Some are predators who kill hive mind organisms and steal their DNA that way, though these are quite rare. None of these creatures are sentient, but some of them are extremely clever, and because of this some of them are considered to be vermin.

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LIFE ON LAND

The powerful weather and water currents of Gu-Pu-Kra meant there is a much higher chance of aquatic life forms close to the shore there - both plants and animals - being washed ashore than is the case on Earth. Because of this, both plants and animals able to survive out of water had an advantage over those that did not, which drove the evolution of life forms more and more able to survive on land.

This meant that life evolved onto land much earlier in the history of Gu-Pu-Kra - by perhaps two billion years after the formation of the planet [two billion Earth years ago] - than in the history of the Earth [where land life has existed for less than 500 million years - since some four billion years after its formation]. As such the land life of Gu-Pu-Kra is more evolved for conditions there than its equivalents on Earth.

Land life forms could initially only survive on land for a while, while 'holding their breath'. That is, using nitrate from water to respire and having to return to the water when it was exhausted.

One particularly important development in the evolution of these land-living forms was the development - independently in several groups of life forms - of the ability to efficiently store significant quantities of nitrate for respiration within their bodies, and extract it from available sources - food or water - when required. This was analogous to the development of lungs on Earth, though also very unlike it, with nitrate being digested from food and stored in a structure with no real analogue among Earth animals.

Because the land organisms of Gu-Pu-Kra do not respire using gas exchange but via dissolved nitrate compounds, they do not breathe as such, have no lungs, and so cannot drown or suffocate, at least until their supply of stored nitrate runs out. They can, however, suffer from decompression sickness [the 'bends'] for the same reason as life forms on Earth do.

All types of sea creatures have been washed onto land at one time or another, though not all of them have been able to evolve creatures capable of surviving or living there. Tritripeds were one of the groups with members that did adapt to life on land.

Once on land the bilaterally symmetrical tritripedal creatures evolved into six-limbed animals with their bodies parallel to the ground. Almost from the start these developed into two distinct groups, one in which the third limb in each ring of limbs hung from the bottom of the body ['danglers'] and one in which it was at the top of the body ['toppers']. In most creatures the third limb on the middle ring atrophied, at least to some extent, because there was little for it to do, though in some creatures it became a grooming or signalling appendage, as did the limb at the rear. In some creatures this last basically became a tail as Earth animals have them. The extra limb at the front of the creature often became a feeding appendage, perhaps not unlike the trunk of an elephant or the mandibles of an insect. In large animals this gave rise to creatures not unlike large six-legged 'elephants'.

In time differing environmental pressures drove some creatures to develop a quadrupedal stance with the front of their body being lifted off the ground to reach higher food, provide a better view and so on. Some evolved beyond this into a bipedal form. In some of these a tripedal gait was evolved as the previously-redundant third limb in the rear ring became useful once again. In quadrupedal and bipedal animals the forward ring of limbs that were freed from having to be walking limbs often became more specialised manipulating limbs, again perhaps not unlike the trunk of an elephant, and in some creatures these limbs, perhaps based on how the feet of the ancestral creature were structured, developed split - bifurcated, trifurcated or suchlike - tips.

Among the radially symmetric creatures a tripedal gait was initially the one that was most common, allowing them to move equally well in all directions. Some creatures evolved flattened body plans, or other adaptations of the original form, producing six- or even nine-limbed creatures, not unlike a type of starfish. In some of these the limbs not used for walking became used for grooming, manipulation, feeding or signalling, not unlike the case with the bilaterally symmetrical animals. Some of these creatures grew into taller forms not unlike long vertical tubes, and some of these began to use an arched body plan when travelling (for increased stability), with three (usually short) legs at each end holding up the long body, raising themselves to their full height only when required. These evolved into a separate line of creatures in their own right, which always moved in this manner, some moving like caterpillars, some walking, with the central ring of limbs evolving to become manipulative appendages. An example of this is shown below:

These and the upright creatures have roles in the ecosystem not unlike those of giraffes.

A few of the radially symmetrical creatures evolved into a form that could roll, either as a barrel or ball shape, with limbs around the axis to provide propulsion, steering, manipulation and so on, and the central ring of limbs atrophying entirely away.

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LAND ANIMAL REPRODUCTION

When life evolved onto the land it was also initially limited by the availability of water into which eggs and DNA packages could be placed. A number of animal groups quickly and independently evolved ways around this - use of direct physical contact to exchange eggs and sperm - use of eggs (whether kept externally or inside their bodies) and so on.

Like some marine animals, some land animals across the three dominant groups of land animals came to care for their eggs in their mouths as this allowed their eggs more safety, and made them more independent of ponds and other water sources. Some mouth brooders evolved pouches in their mouths to carry their young; some of these are in their cheeks; others are elsewhere, in the floor of the mouth or the throat. Others developed specialised limbs to hold their eggs and/or young.

Sub-groups of these also came to carry and brood their young in their mouths for a time after they hatched. In one sub-group of this last sub-group the small hatched young came to be swallowed by their parent(s). It is speculated that this initially occurred by accident but the young successfully developed a parasitic lifestyle within the gut of their parent(s) and were excreted into the world when sufficiently well developed. From these a group that swallowed their eggs, which then hatched and developed in the gut of their parent, evolved.

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LAND ORGANISM DNA TRANSFER

When life moved onto the land, organisms had much greater difficulty in exchanging DNA memory packages with other members of their species than was the case for water-dwelling organisms.

In some the complex mechanisms of offensive and defensive DNA memory package handling that their ancestors had possessed in the oceans atrophied away, as there was no need for them, though aspects of them were retained, because there are still creatures that will, given the chance spoof, misdirect and deceive others - their prey - to their own ends. These species became ones made up of individuals [much like all animals on Earth].

Other species used elements of the environment to communicate, for example by using shared water sources to pass memory DNA between individuals. Because of this, like amphibians on Earth, they remained tied to the environmental feature they required, such as open water sources. Animals that became individuals were not so tied, and so had a minor advantage.

Plants, on the other hand able to maintain constant DNA message contact between individuals via their roots initially had an advantage over animals and used it to colonies as much of the land as they could in a semi-intelligent manner.

Some animals evolved the ability to exchange memory DNA away from water via direct mouth-to-mouth physical contact - 'kissing' to bring DNA transmitters and receptors together. These had an advantage over species made up of individuals and so spread widely across the land area of Gu-Pu-Kra. Even in non-social creatures the advantages of information exchange mean that it occurs sometimes, for example when mating or at other meetings. For social creatures, there is even more advantage to doing so all the time. As part of this some animals evolved front limbs that were able to exchange DNA between individuals [much like the hectocotylous arm of squid on Earth]. In some these appendages evolved to become more general manipulative limbs.

As part of this, animals evolved specialised salivary glands that produced a viscous, sticky saliva full of DNA packages that further increased the effectiveness of DNA transfers between individuals.

The first land animals fed their young on the same foodstuffs they themselves ate. However, many of the more advanced land animals feed their young on regurgitated half-digested pap. With the evolution of memory DNA transfer via 'kissing' this pap inevitably became mixed with the memory DNA-carrying saliva of the animals, enabling efficient transfer of DNA to the young from birth, greatly speeding their development by 'programming' them with adult memories and skills.

The use of memory DNA-carrying saliva could be messy, so in some animals its use drove the development of mutual grooming behaviours between individuals to stop a build-up of dried and rotting saliva. In others it drove the evolution of a symbiosis with some types of Finsesh which [not unlike oxpecker birds on Earth] cleaned the animals in exchange for taking what they cleaned as food. To Gubprwufu these types of Finsesh are known as Eb'P.

Humans might call these symbiotic Eb'P Finsesh 'Muninns', after Muninn, the raven of the Norse god Odin, whose name means 'memory'.

In one subgroup of these creatures their saliva became the sole food source for their young, with nutritional saliva being secreted from modified oral glands, which also pass memory DNA to the young [this process is very roughly analogous to that of the mammary glands of Earth mammals]. The advantages of this process led to it becoming the means of feeding the young of most animals species on Gu-Pu-Kra.

As a side effect of the use of symbiotic cleaner creatures, this process inevitably led to the accidental transfer of DNA memory packages between individuals. In most cases this remained an useful advantage and no more, but one group of particularly clever quadrupeds evolved to actively encourage the cleaners. In time the cleaners and quadrupeds co-evolved into a different form of symbiosis, with the quadrupeds coming to rely on the cleaners for DNA transfer at a distance, while the cleaners came to rely on the quadrupeds for food via the evolution of improved nutritional qualities in the DNA transfer saliva and for shelter as the quadrupeds evolved a spongy mass of flesh on their backs which acted as a home for the cleaners, a form of living hive.

Because of the great advantage the ability to share DNA memory packages at range on land gave them these 'Cubilis Gerulus' ['Hive Bearers' in Latin] came to dominate among the land animals of Gu-Pu-Kra and, by out-competing others, fill most of the available ecological niches. As part of this predatory Cubilis Gerulus often also have predatory Eb'P [Muninns]; these attack the Eb'P of the prey, while the predator itself attacks the prey creature.

Different types of animals, or even animals of the same species living in different environments, have different species of co-evolved symbiotic Eb'P [Muninns]. The saliva that each host species produces has a distinctive scent and composition such that its symbiotic Eb'P species will prefer it over others; the only exception to this is with closely related species when there is a chance of confusion among the Eb'P. This confusion can sometimes stop evolutionary divergence from occurring. However, all Eb'P fill the same functional roles as one another.

A number of Cubilis Gerulus species that live in relatively benign environments have evolved into a sessile form where the Cubilis Gerulus creature does not simply carry a hive, it is the hive, with the Eb'P [Muninns] feeding it and helping it breed in return for living within its body.

Note that because Eb'P can only fly so fast, there is a propagation delay for new ideas and experiences to filter out from their originator into their social group as a whole. This depends on the flight speed of the Eb'P, which is dependant on the wind, weather and temperature, as well as the overall health of the Eb'P hive. Because of this ideas propagate better downwind than upwind, better in warm weather than cold weather, and so on. Eb'P fly at a speed and in a manner not unlike that of Earth bees, and their flight speed is similar at some 20 km/h or so [worker bees on Earth fly to a food source at 21-28km/h and when returning laden down fly at some 17km/h].

Although they may share a hive mind, memory-sharing species tend not to have physically specialised castes [as, for example, social insects on Earth do]. This is mainly because memory-sharing among creatures that have significant physical differences is confusing and often contra-survival for them. There are some physically specialised species, but these tend to be among species that do not share memories. Likewise, Eb'P [Muninns] of a species all remain much the same, without the specialised types that exist among (for example) social insects on Earth

In addition to this some memory-sharing species use their DNA-carrying saliva to 'mark' items in their environment, both to define territories, and to provide messages to others of the species which they can receive from the 'mark' [a behaviour roughly analogous to 'spraying' among Earth animals.

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THE DEVELOPMENT OF INTELLIGENCE

The success of the Cubilis Gerulus drove competition between plants and animals to almost the same pitch of intensity as in the seas. This in turn drove the evolution of intelligence on both sides. Among animals one side effect of this was the evolution of more and more sophisticated pre-languages and cultures among the more advanced animal species, in the form of farming to provide themselves with a stable food supply, and an organised society to cater to the needs of all. This continued until one group of herbivorous Cubilis Gerulus evolved the ability to make and use tools. This gave them a great advantage over the plants and allowed them to clear land and grow what they wished a form of primitive agriculture - as well as better protect themselves from predators.

The needs of this new agricultural way of life drove the further evolution of intelligence as better ways of working and growing food were invented. However, it did not drive these proto-Gubprwufu to acquire a human level of intelligence, but only enough to enable and maintain the success of the proto-Gubprwufu [who at this stage were roughly equivalent to Homo erectus in terms of intelligence and skills; that is, a tool-using race, without a human level of intelligence, but with the potential to survive for a long time, as Homo erectus survived for 1.5 million years on Earth]. Still, this was sufficient to allow them to spread across all of the Upgbpr-Wtdu [the hospitable lit regions sunwards of the terminator of Gu-Pu-Kra].

The proto-Gubprwufu remained successful in their niche for a very long time - at least a million Earth years - and might have remained there for longer were it not for the rapid continental drift of Gu-Pu-Kra [something that has also driven the evolution of other species].

The land mass inhabited by the proto-Gubprwufu gradually moved towards the night side of Gu-Pu-Kra. As it did so the system of agriculture used by the proto-Gubprwufu slowly became increasingly disrupted. As one end of their land mass entered Ueb-Bgt [the terminator] and then Ugodugg [the twilight zone] it also began to be subducted down into the interior of Gu-Pu-Kra, causing increasingly greater numbers of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions as well as beginning to reduce the (darkening) land area available to the proto-Gubprwufu.

The ecological disruptions this tectonic activity caused drove many of the proto-Gubprwufu into extinction, but caused some groups of proto-Gubprwufu to evolve new behaviours and greater intelligence - to become mentally flexible, clever and inventive - in order to survive. New tools and techniques for processing food developed, as did a shift of diet from purely herbivorous to omnivorous. As part of this sea travel was invented and the first true sentient life forms on Gu-Pu-Kra evolved - the first true Gubprwufu.

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SENSES

All of the life forms of Gu-Pu-Kra have a set of senses adapted to their way of life and the environment of the area of the planet in which they live.

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FLYING ANIMALS

The greater thickness of the air of Gu-Pu-Kra [with a pressure at sea level 2.2 times that of the Earth] outweighs its higher gravity [some 1.27 times that of the Earth] to allow the largest flying creatures there to be more massive than those on Earth by the ratio between them, that is up to some 1.73 times more massive than the largest flying organisms on Earth [which, as far as is known, was the pterosaur Quetzalcoatlus, with a mass of up to perhaps 250kg, giving its Gu-Pu-Kraian analogue a mass of some 430kg!]. Thus there are a great many flying creatures of all sizes up to this maximum on Gu-Pu-Kra. In addition to this, a creature of a given mass needs smaller wings on Gu-Pu-Kra than it would on Earth, potentially allowing faster flapping and faster flying. Alternatively, smaller flying creatures of a given size - and in particular predators - can be stronger and more robust than a flyer of that size could be on Earth.

Because of the constant strong winds on Gu-Pu-Kra its flying creatures tend to use gliding rather than more active flight. On the other hand, the thicker air helps to compensate for the less efficient respiration of Gu-Pu-Kraian organisms, so that flyers can be roughly as active as Earth birds for the same food intake.

In addition to the Finsesh, all of the three major groups of Gu-Pu-Kraian land animals have produced groups of species capable of flight.

Among the radially symmetrical land organisms, flight developed among a group of flat, disc-like animals, which evolved a tactic of jumping and being carried by the wind to escape predators. Initially largely uncontrolled - with the animals more windblown than flying as such - in some cases evolution drove the development of a bilaterally symmetrical form not unlike a kite which could glide in a controlled manner. Because of the limitations of their ancestral radially symmetrical form none of these organisms are strong flyers, but many are skilled gliders and have used this to expand into a variety of ecological niches across Gu-Pu-Kra.

The two groups of bilaterally symmetrical land animals have each, by a process of convergent evolution, given rise to three distinct groups of flyers based on which of their limbs are used for what. These are as follows:

• The middle pair of limbs are wings, with the front and rear pairs of limbs remaining as legs, to give a vaguely dragon-like form.
• The front pair of limbs are wings, with the rear pair being smaller aerodynamic surfaces forming a tail, with the central pair of limbs as legs, to give a vaguely bird-like form. In animals where the third limb of each ring is under the body of the animals the rear under-limb in some animals is used as a third leg, with the middle under-limb being used as a folding downward-pointing fin.
• The front and rear pairs of limbs are both used as wings, giving a four-winged form [not unlike some dinosaurs are thought to have done], with the middle pair remaining as legs. As for the previous group of animals in those creatures where the third limb is underslung it may be used as a third leg and/or a fin.

In some three-legged predatory flyers the rear third leg is used for gripping, killing and lifting pretty [not unlike a more specialised form of the taloned legs used by Earth birds of prey]. In many of these the animals actually walks on the knee of the rear leg, with the claws and so on at its tip kept raised off the ground in a manner not unlike that used by velociraptors on Earth to keep their killing claws off the ground when walking.

The surfaces of the wings of the bilaterally symmetrical flying animals consist of skin flaps supported by bone, not unlike those of bats or pterosaurs on Earth. No Gu-Pu-Kraian animals possess anything resembling feathers, perhaps became none of the them are warm-blooded.

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PLANT LIFE

Note that in this section the term 'plant' is used to refer to all kinds of autotrophic organisms - that is, those that produce complex organic compounds from simple inorganic molecules using energy from the environment - and not just those that use energy from sunlight via photosynthesis.

All plants on Gu-Pu-Kra have adapted to be able to cope with the occasional cold(er) spells caused by starspots on Rp'Gu. In large plants the plants themselves are adapted to survive cold conditions. Smaller plants tend to die off, or survive as root structures under the ground, where temperatures are more stable. All plants produce seeds that are resistant to cold conditions, and in many species a prolonged drop in temperature triggers seed production even if the plant would not normally do so at that time.

Plants that live in darker zones and which do not subsist on photosynthesis are not constrained by the need for light to reach them. Because of this many such plants protect themselves from the cold with fur, cork-like bark or some other form of insulated covering, and are in general white in colour. A very few plants in cold regions use hot water from thermal springs to warm themselves, circulating it through their bodies. Another small group of these plants are at least partly homoeothermic ['warm-blooded'] and maintain at least part of their body at a stable temperature.

Because of the harsh environmental conditions on the dark side of Gu-Pu-Kra, a significant minority of the plants that live there supplement their energy gained from autotrophic sources with additional energy and nutrients gained from the predation or parasitism of other autotrophs [not unlike the Venus Fly Trap on Earth]. A few types of dark side plants alternate generations between static autotrophs and mobile heterotrophs [animal-like forms]. A few others have the ability to switch into a mobile heterotrophic form if they lose their food supply, for example if a geothermal hotspot a chemosynthetic organism relies on dies away, then back again if a new autotrophic source is found. In others loss of food supply drives a cycle of rapid reproduction, with the parent plant dying, but producing many offspring, often asexually, that spread elsewhere.

Because of their anaerobic respiration, the plants of Gu-Pu-Kra do not respire through their leaves, which are only used for capturing energy for photosynthesis. Because of this, their leaves do not have the stomata [pores] that Earth plants use for this, and as a side effect of this lose much less water to the atmosphere. This makes them more drought-resistant than equivalent Earth plants.

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PHOTOSYNTHESISERS

The evolution of photosynthetic land plants on Gu-Pu-Kra has been driven by the conflict between the need for them to gather enough sunlight to survive, and to survive the harsh winds on Gu-Pu-Kra. The regions in which large organisms survive, and on which Rp'Gu shines, are ones near the terminator. As such Rp'Gu is always relatively low to the horizon.

The photosynthesising vegetation of Gu-Pu-Kra uses a mixture of dark green and dark purple photosynthetic pigments to absorb red and infrared light from Rp'Gu. To a human eye this makes their leaves, overall, a dark khaki colour as shown here. Non-photosynthesising parts of the plant are covered with an analogue of bark which tends to be grey in colour.

Because there are no seasons as such on Gu-Pu-Kra there are no deciduous plants there.

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AQUATIC PLANTS

Because the red light of Rp'Gu does not penetrate water well, the photic zone [the region just below the surface of a body of water in which there is sufficient light for photosynthesis] on Gu-Pu-Kra is much less deep than is the case on Earth. This means that photosynthetic life, although still the main producer in the oceans, is less dominant in the ocean than on, for example, the Earth.

Seagoing plants - the Gu-Pu-Kra equivalent of phytoplankton - have thus evolved to stay within this relatively narrow band. Most do this by using pockets of air in their bodies for buoyancy, a method used by both single and multi-cellular organisms. Most of these are shaped so as to maximise the cross-section they present to the sun, normally as disks or lenses. Some organisms form larger linked mats to help them remain close to the surface. However aquatic plants suffer the same problems of aligning their leaves to the sun in a constant opposing wind that land plants do. Many smaller plants simply remain flat to the water and suffer the loss of photosynthetic efficiency that that brings.

In shallow waters an aquatic version of spinnaker plants grow up from or are anchored to the sea bed. In deeper waters a smaller number of such species have evolved to use biological sea anchors to maintain their alignment to Rp'Gu.

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NON-PHOTOSYNTHESISING PLANTS

Note that only photosynthetic plants have such a wide variety of forms. This is because they must survive the weather of Gu-Pu-Kra and also be able to effectively photosynthesise. Evolution has driven a number of solutions to this problem. Other non-photosynthesising plants, without the constraint of requiring sunlight, live a generally ground-hugging or underground existence and so are less visible.

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PLANT REPRODUCTION

The thick atmosphere and strong winds of Gu-Pu-Kra mean that many of the plants that live there use the wind as part of the reproductive process. A majority of plants on Gu-Pu-Kra and wind-pollinated rather than using animals to do so, although plants that do this do also exist.

Also, the wind is used to distribute seeds by many plants. These take any of a wide variety of forms not unlike those used by plants on Earth, up to and including using the wind to disperse seedlings that germinate on the parent plant.

In addition to plant sexual reproduction, plants also use the wind in asexual reproduction. Many plants produce plantlets - miniature versions of themselves - which are sufficiently small and light that they can be carried by the wind in the thick atmosphere of Gu-Pu-Kra to a new location, where they begin to grow. This type of reproduction of also used by the airborne glider and sailplane plants.

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THE GUBPRWUFU

In body plan the Gubprwufu are quadrupedal, with a relatively long, flexible body. Their legs have two knees, which on both pairs of legs have backward bending upper knees and forward bending lower ones. As creatures descended from the bilateral animals whose third limbs in each ring was under the body, at the rear underside of the body between the rear legs is a thin three-jointed limb. This is used for swatting flies, signalling body language and so on, much like the tails of Earth animals.

Their feet are a cloven hoof-like structure split into two halves. The underside of the foot has layers of keratin-like material tapering backward to the rear of the foot giving a sort of tapering chevron shape of hard ridges with softer flesh between [this gives them odd footprints from a human perspective]. Their feet do not work terribly well on hard artificial surfaces so they tend not to use them. When they have no choice, they will wear shoes analogous to horseshoes to protect their feet.

Between the front pair of legs is the third limb of that ring of limbs. Originally it was a flat fringe-edged boned tentacle just capable of creating clicks and snaps (like human finger clicks) but in time it has evolved move complex structures as well as longer 'fingers', chambers of various sizes and other structures that can be compressed and popped to create pops, clicks, burp noises and so on that are modulated and combined for speech. This speaking limb now looks like a sort of odd 'bubble bush' hanging under each individual Gubprwufu.

Down the centre of their back runs a long hump, pierced by many hundreds of small openings, which forms a hive-home for the Eb'P [Muninns] associated with that particular Gubprwufu. Along with their other benefits, their symbiotic Eb'P hives provide warmth to their hosts to help them remain active in cold climates [much as bee hives generate warmth on Earth].

In front of the forelegs the body narrows and rises into a thick neck which bulges to house the Gubprwufu brain before trifurcating into the three long, flexible tentacles which form the Gubprwufu manipulative limbs. One of these extends from the bottom of the neck while the others extend from the top of each side. Their tentacles split into two 'fingers' roughly eighty percent of the way towards the tip. The two 'fingers' can work in opposition to one another to give a high degree of manual dexterity.

In cross-section the Gubprwufu tentacles have a flat inner side and a roughly half-elliptical cross-section. The entire inside faces of the tentacles have prehensile ridges perpendicular to their length, which are thicker and more widely spaced towards their bases, and thinner and more delicate towards the tip. These can lift front-to-back and ripple along their length (that is, across the width of the tentacle) to give improved manipulative ability. Their foot ridge structure is based on the same overall pattern, but modified for walking.

Individual Gubprwufu have a 'handedness' in that at birth they tend to favour one of their three tentacles for manipulation and so on, with an equal percentage preferring each. However, the sharing of memories with others of all three handedness's tends to override this innate preference so that all adult Gubprwufu tend to be essentially ambidextrous.

Within the three tentacles is the Gubprwufu's mouth, a treble beak formed of a keratin-like material which is worn down at the edges by eating, but which grows constantly from the body. Inside the mouth they have three quite long tongues.

Behind the places where the tentacles join the head and neck are three clusters of small, simple protuberant eyes which see reds and infra-reds [similar to those of other animals on Gu-Pu-Kra]. Two face up and to the side, the third faces down; this downward facing cluster is fully functional, and provides information on the ground below as well as vision when the head is down, for example when drinking. Altogether, the three eye clusters give 'binocular' vision [in the sense of having depth perception] very nearly spherically around the body.

The number of eyes in the eye clusters of each individual Gubprwufu varies between individuals, and also between eye clusters on the same individual. This arrangement is generally unique to an individual and is a means of fairly unambiguous identification among them. They blink by eye retraction, like frogs, normally in 'waves' across each eye cluster.

In addition to the main eye clusters there are an additional six almost-vestigial eye clusters on the joints of the legs, 'tail' and speaking limb. Much smaller, these clusters cannot see as such, but they can detect differences in light levels.

Between the manipulative tentacles are three clusters of alternating backward and forward pointing bristle-like structures. These help distribute DNA-carrying honey-like saliva from the salivary glands to the exterior of the body where it can be accessed by the Eb'P, and also allow DNA deposited by the Eb'P to travel back to the mouth where it can be taken in and read.

On each side of the neck where it joins there body there is the flat diaphragm of an ear, which gives them reasonably good hearing. Note that because of the thicker atmosphere of Gu-Pu-Kra their hearing is not as sensitive as that of (for example) and equivalent Earth creature.

In terms of size, individual Gubprwufu are larger than humans, with an average mass of some 220 kilograms [as opposed to an average human mass of some 65 kilos, averaging over men and women; this is roughly the same as a pony]. They are somewhat stronger and more muscular than an Earth animal of the same size due to the somewhat heavier gravity of Gu-Pu-Kra.

An image of a Gubprwufu can be found below:

In terms of colour, to human eyes the Gubprwufu are a dark khaki colour, much the same as the photosynthetic vegetation of Gu-Pu-Kra. The is normally even in colour, but some individuals have mottlings or other colour variations, and populations from different regions may also have differences in colour and, sometimes, patternings.

Internally, their bone structure is like that of other animals on Gu-Pu-Kra, being based on a structure not unlike a stack of three-pointed bony stars running down the length of the body. The size of the stars and the length of their 'rays' vary depending on the location in the body; long and strong rays are found in particular at the limb joints, where the weight of the body is supported. Elsewhere the rays are smaller, though the size of the 'core' of the star tends to remain similar, for strength. Under the skin, an interlocking mesh of 'scales' provides some degree of protection from damage. Particularly large and strong versions of these provide protection for the brain and other vital organs. They have two hearts, one each for the forward and rear halves of the body.

As with other animals on Gu-Pu-Kra, the Gubprwufu brain developed from simpler nerve structures concerned with limb and sense organ control and functionality. In the Gubprwufu the brain in which their sentience resides is in the head, but there are secondary brains at each of the other two rings of limbs. The one at the forelegs is actually quite large as it holds the speech centre used to provide the complex control required for the speaking limb. As part of this there is a thick nerve trunk between the main brain and this secondary centre to effectively control their speaking.

Like other land animals on Gu-Pu-Kra, the Gubprwufu do not have lungs. Instead, their interior is divided between a nitrate extraction system, nitrate storage, and a digestive system analogous to that of Earth animals. Both nitrate and energy-bearing food is eaten through the mouth, and the waste products from both are excreted through an equivalent of an anus at the rear of the body. Respiratory waste is excreted as solids along with digestive waste.

Also like the other animals of Gu-Pu-Kra, the Gubprwufu are ectothermic [cold-blooded], although because of their size they also have a degree of gigantothermy [where large, bulky ectothermic animals are more easily able to maintain a constant, relatively high body temperature than smaller animals by virtue of their greater volume-to-surface area ratio]. Despite this they are as active as human, their cold-bloodedness not necessarily implying that they are slow or have slow reactions.

The Gubprwufu evolved in the most hospitable and biologically diverse part of Gu-Pu-Kra. These regions can support a fairly high population of Gubprwufu due to their cold-bloodedness, which means that require less food and so on than an equivalent population of warm-blooded creatures.

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GUBPRWUFU REPRODUCTION

As with the other animals of Gu-Pu-Kra the Gubprwufu have no breeding season. Also like the other land animals of Gu-Pu-Kra, the Gubprwufu exchange DNA [have sex] via their mouths rather than any other part of their bodies. Fertilised eggs are swallowed by one or other of the mating pair.

Each egg then hatches in the stomach of its parent and the resultant young then grows as a tapeworm-like parasite in the gut of the parent until they are large enough to survive in the outside world.

All adult Gubprwufu constantly produce special DNA packs that are then swallowed by them. Most of the time these packs are not used, and are simply re-digested and absorbed. However, when they encounter a foetus they are taken in by it. These DNA packages 'program' the foetus with certain types of behaviour, for example how to walk and talk, that allows them to know how to do so as soon as they are born, and so helps them to survive. [Some animals which do this have parasites and other associated species that also learn from them via these special DNA packages, even to the point of speech in some cases.] As such they are born sentient and able to talk and contribute.

When the young are ready to be born they begin to secrete a laxative substance that makes their parents excrete them [lovely!]. Following this they are cared for by adults, normally (but not always) their parents.

Due to the way their limbs are arranged, young Gubprwufu are born head-first. They initially have a somewhat different form to the adults, being long and thin with relatively short gripping limbs for holding on internally. Once they are born they use the same limbs to hold onto parents externally while they grow further and learn more via DNA transfer young Gubprwufu are programmed, not taught. As part of this the body thickens, the legs lengthen, they grow a Eb'P [Muninn] 'hive', acquire Eb'P, and so on, all relatively quickly after birth, certainly much faster than is the case with humans. [This does not quite count as metamorphosis as the change is not step-like but instead gradually and involving a reshaping of their proportions.]

On the birth of a child all Gubprwufu in the vicinity lose a fraction of their 'bees' as they are attracted by pheromones to colonise the new 'hive' in the new individual. All Gubprwufu hives have sufficient slack in their population numbers that this temporary depletion of Eb'P numbers is normally entirely bearable.

As a side effect of the way in which either gender can brood young, there is no physical sexual dimorphism among the Gubprwufu; both genders are on average the same size, same strength and so on. However, there are some non-functional differences in appearance between the genders, which allow members of the species to distinguish between each other. Because of their exchanging of memories they also lack any kind of mental sexual dimorphism.

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CULTURE AND SOCIETY

As with humans, the culture and society of the Gubprwufu is driven by their environment, their neurophysiology and the culture and society inherited from their pre-sentient ancestors. However, as all of these things are very different in the Gubprwufu to their equivalents in humanity, their culture and society are correspondingly very different to those of humanity.

The sharing of memories between Gubprwufu in proximity to one another is the main driver of how their society functions. In addition to this, mutual grooming and apiculture ['bee care' for their Muninns] is an important basis of their social relationships.

Equality of opportunity, social position, income, gender, race, age and so on is implicit in Gubprwufu society, simply because they unavoidably share memories with one another. They are, effectively, very empathic with members of their own species and cannot not be so. They know how it feels to be lonely and suffering [as inspired by the song This Is How It Feels by the Inspiral Carpets], and so, from what are basically selfish motives - making themselves feel better - they are almost obliged to help those in need, as if they do not they will suffer as much as the original individual. As part of this, young Gubprwufu unavoidably know what it feels like to be old, but the old also know what it is like to be young, which often helps them feel younger in themselves and so perhaps live longer because of it.

All of this means that the Gubprwufu are, as a species, natural communists, who really can selflessly devote themselves to the good of society as a whole, give according to their abilities, and only take according to their needs. This in itself makes them fundamentally quite different to more individualistic intelligent species such as humans.

One additional difference to humanity is that the basic unit of Gubprwufu society - the size of groups of pre-technological Gubprwufu, and that of sub-groups in their society to the present day - is some five hundred individuals [much larger than is the case for humans, where this unit is of some 150 individuals]. This, and their sharing of memories, means that the Gubprwufu work far better in groups than humans do, and to more unified purposes, unless they have a major split of opinion when a Gubprwufu group can suddenly fragment. This means that the Gubprwufu are very good at large projects and working in large teams, much more so than is the case for humanity.

In addition to being better at cooperating in large projects, because of their sharing of memories and experience, large Gubprwufu projects tend to have fewer problems than (for example) human ones of the same size, simply because all of it is thought about and reviewed by more individuals, and thus it is that much more likely that any flaws in it will be found and, as importantly, passed back to the project as a whole to be fixed. This is helped by the ability of the Gubprwufu to 'farm out' calculations and computations across groups much more effectively than humans can. The sharing of memories also means that Gubprwufu are better at long-term projects and long-term thinking generally than humans.

Because of all of this the history of the Gubprwufu is much less interesting - that is to say, much less violent and conflict-ridden - than that of humanity. Another part of this is the fact that the Gubprwufu have suffered many fewer instances of knowledge being lost because the individual possessing it died without passing it on than is the case for (for example) humans. Likewise they have almost no instances of ideas being 'hoarded', simply because, for them, to do so is almost impossible. All of this means that the Gubprwufu have had a much more consistent 'upwards' trajectory to their society, culture and technology than that of humanity, with very little in the way of dark ages and so on.

Another side effect of their sharing of memories and so on is that the Gu-Pu-Kra have no concept of what humans would call politeness and tact, because they cannot avoid knowing what others think and feel so there is no need to even attempt to spare the feelings of others. Thus they are - in human terms - incredibly blunt and plain speaking, to the point of what a race such as humanity would consider rudeness. As another aspect of this they are not shy or self-conscious as they simply cannot hide from others.

Likewise, they have no real concept of privacy or body modesty. Because of this they would have no objections to system of ubiquitous surveillance being used in their societies for safety and so on. For the same reason they have far fewer taboos than do humans, although there are some, for example against things such as incest, which are adhered to for entirely rational reasons.

A side effect of their highly egalitarian society is that their technological development has been considerably slower than that of humanity. This is not due to any shortage of ideas or theoretical knowledge, both of which they have in abundance, but because their nature prevents them exploiting groups within their society to push rapid development, and/or leaving some groups in poverty and so on while others advance. Basically, they have a need to bring everyone up to as much of a common level as is possible.

The way in which convincing ideas can quickly be accepted by individual Gubprwufu means that ideas can rapidly spread across their social groups, and, sometimes, as quickly disappear. As such they can be subject to fads and novelties.

As part of their susceptibility to fads, the Gubprwufu can also be subject to what are effectively moral panics, where some situation is blown out of all proportion by ideas and concepts that are entirely acceptable to the idea filters of a given population. This has led to a number of unpleasant periods in Gubprwufu history, although these were all quite short-lived, as the panics themselves are highly susceptible to opposing ideas, and often end as quickly as they began.

Gubprwufu societies and other organisations do not have hierarchies as such [as, for example, their human equivalents do]. They do, however, have roles and specialisations, and some of these, particularly those to do with organising and planning, might, to a human eye, appear to be in charge and giving orders. And this is the case, but because of memory sharing and consensus its basis is very different to that of (for example) humans.

Another difference between Gubprwufu and humans is that team roles are much more fluid for Gubprwufu than for (for example) humans, simply because knowledge and experience is spread across all of a given group, and beyond it. Thus who is doing what in a group who 'wears what hat' changes as required by circumstances, much more so than is the case for humans. This has some disadvantages, as different leaders and so on have different styles that can differ, with consequent adjustment times, but also advantages as it bring fresh ideas and new perspectives to projects, often much more than is the case for human projects.

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HIVE MIND AND HOMOGENEITY

Note that although their memory sharing implies a high degree of homogeneity among all Gubprwufu, this is not strictly the case.

• For one thing, each individual Gubprwufu is fully sentient in its own right, as much so as any human, and at least as capable of ideas, initiative and creativity. It is entirely possible for these ideas to filter out from an individual to influence and become part of a much larger group.
• In addition to this, even though all memories, including memories of thoughts and ideas, are shared between individuals, different individuals have varying mental architectures [much as different humans have different ways of thinking about things] and so interpret, use and are inspired by this common set of memories and experiences in different ways.
• Thirdly, the sharing of memories is not instant, but instead they take time to propagate and be processed by individual Gubprwufu, so that although things may homogenise given sufficient time, over short time scales there is a great deal of opportunity for variation, with the opportunities for innovation and so on that this implies.

Because of these factors, their society is not all centralised planning and control. Instead, it is far more of a consensus democracy, with decisions reached by agreement, and with discoveries, ideas and so on coming up from the 'rank and file' as well as down from the top. [Note that even among archetypal Earth hive creatures such as bees and ants, individuals are not constantly linked to the hive and can show initiative and other differences.]

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IDEA FILTERS AND IMAGINATION

In the early history of life on Gu-Pu-Kra organisms would simply accept and integrate all of the (relatively simple) DNA packages they received from their environment.

However, as creatures and their memories and behaviour became more and more complex this led to organisms suffering more and more conflicts between old and new information, or simply their spending resources processing information that was useless to them.

Some creatures dealt with this by evolving into true individuals and losing their ability to exchange memories. Other evolved methods to screen and filter received DNA packages. This first and simplest of these was the use of species-specific identifiers so that only relevant packages were processed further. These were combined with the encryption of the information, to avoid organisms that spoofed or otherwise tried to fool a given type of organism.

Even within a species there could be incompatible ideas and information that some individuals did not require. Thus a method of arbitrating between information packages evolved, these mechanisms giving them what is effectively a memetic immune system.

In complex organisms such as the Gubprwufu, the goodness of incoming DNA packages is judged via by an internal modelling approach that compares old and new information for goodness and compatibility, via a process of 'idea filtering'. This can be quite slow, with multiple 'runs' as their idea filters mull over the information they have received until they accept or reject it. Thus they 'sleep on' new information until it is dealt with one way or another. Depending on the received idea, this can lead to sudden changes in ways of thinking and ideas as what is interpreted as a better new idea overrides an existing old one.

As part of this, DNA memory packages that are accepted by a receiving individual and processed by them are not just inserted into their memories but also copied on in an essentially verbatim state [with a low error rate] out into the general environment. This makes species that do this even more hive-like.

In normal everyday life, idea filtering occurs in the background to the normal functioning of each individual Gubprwufu, as more DNA memory packages arrive, with periods of sleep letting this filtering occur more efficiently. However, in times of great change or of new ideas, idea filtering make take longer and require more effort. In this case the Gubprwufu involved may well be somewhat distracted [not unlike, for example, humans mulling over important new ideas], and require more sleep as ideas are processed and judged.

It is entirely possible for different individuals within a group to end up drawing different conclusions from the same information, to their point that they are unable to reach a consensus. In this case a social group may split into two or more sub-groups.

It is also possible for the idea filters of very different groups to have reached states such that there are irreconcilable differences between them, regardless of how much contact they share, due to their worldviews and so on simply not having enough overlap to allow commonality. These are one of the few reasons why there have been wars among the Gubprwufu, though because memories of pain and suffering remain universal, and so are shared, in general such differences lead to the two groups isolating themselves from each other rather than fighting. It is entirely possible that such isolated groups still exist in parts of Gu-Pu-Kra into the present day.

Idea filters cannot be directly overridden to make individuals think what another desires. However, they can be coerced by threats of various kinds, though this is more likely to change surface behaviour than any underlying opinions. Thoughts can be more subtly manipulated by controlling who shares memories with who, though this is, of course, complex and difficult.

The parts of the Gubprwufu that perform this idea filtering and modelling run constantly. However, when simply running 'idle' with less than their full capacity of memories to process these processes also give the Gubprwufu imagination, extrapolation and so on. Mutations among them giving them more 'modelling' cells over and above those required for simply existing in Gubprwufu society gave them spare capacity that is what gave the proto-Gubprwufu the full sentience that produced the Gubprwufu themselves.

As such, despite their sharing of memories, the Gubprwufu still have a great deal of room for imagination and stories.

The way in which convincing ideas can quickly be accepted by individual Gubprwufu means that ideas can rapidly spread across their social groups, and, sometimes, as quickly disappear. As such they can be subject to fads and so on.

On the other hand, long periods of isolation from other Gubprwufu can drive an individual towards madness as the amplification of 'noise' in their idea filters as they 'idle' without any inputs gradually accumulates and becomes more and more a part of conscious thought.

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A HOLOGRAPHIC SOCIETY

It is theorised that the organisation of the human brain is holographic. That is, that any part of it contains a 'view' of the whole, as holographic images do. The same applies to the Gubprwufu, but much more so as they share thoughts and memories within and across social groups. Thus, for them, not only individuals but groups as a whole are essentially holographic, with each member of a group a (certainly limited and imperfect) 'view' of the whole group to a far higher degree than is the case for humans.

Of course, as social groups overlap, interact and merge each individual could be considered a 'view' of Gubprwufu society as a whole, though obviously the 'further' and individual is from a given part of society the more limited and distorted the 'view' of that part of society within a given individual may be. [The same case could, of course, be made that each human also reflects society as a whole, but this is unavoidably far less so than is the case for the Gubprwufu.]

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SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE ATTITUDES

The Gubprwufu do not have romance as humans know it. Partners know one another's feelings, and, of course, the feelings of all others around them. They have an urge to pair bond for the purposes of breeding and caring for the young, but feelings of what humans might call love inevitably spread through any Gubprwufu community. This helps to bind the community together, but of course also makes exclusive romantic relationships almost impossible.

As with everything else they have no shyness or prudishness about sex, and are as open about it as about everything else. Because of memory sharing they are considerate of the needs of their partners, much more so than humans can be.

Gubprwufu young are 'programmed' via DNA packages they receive from the adults around them, first their parents, and then from all around them. As such they become mentally mature - to an adult level - very quickly and so do not have a childhood in anything other than a physical sense. They become fully sentient and learn skills at a time when a human would be a baby, and begin work and contributing to society from that point, taking into account their smaller brains and lesser physical strength and endurance compared to an adult.

Thus young (but working) Gubprwufu are treated very much the same as full-grown adults [very much different to the case with humans]. One major difference to the case for humans is that many Gubprwufu groups consider their young more expendable than adults as they are (somewhat) less useful than adults and are fairly easy to replace...

All of this means that the Gubprwufu have no formal educational system as such; education of the young simply happens as part of their being a member of a social group.

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SENSE OF TIME AND MORTALITY

Although the Gubprwufu measure time for similar reasons to humans, they have a different sense of time, and indeed of mortality, than humans. This is a result of their sharing memories with others, as they do not necessarily have a single memory of an event, but instead a number of 'parallel' memories and perspectives. Likewise because of this, as they know that parts of themselves - their memories - can come from individuals that are dead, and that, equally, parts of themselves will live on in others even after they themselves die, this strongly colours their attitude to mortality. And of course, in addition to this they have other avenues towards being remembered after death as humans do, via their offspring and their works.

It is also entirely possible for Gubprwufu to put aside samples of the DNA-memory-holding saliva they produce, so that the memories they contain could be, for example, posted to a far-away location. The only problem with this is that the DNA it contains tends to degrade with time over a period of Earth days, so unless the saliva is preserved in some way (for example by freezing) then it will become increasingly illegible until all of its meaning is lost.

The fact that this can be done means that Gubprwufu about to go into a risky situation may leave saliva samples for their social group as a form of last will and testament. In some (largely primitive) groups where many risks exist there may well be a role of 'remembrancer', a Gubprwufu who takes such packages from those at risk so that their memories are not lost.

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POLITICS

Again because of their sharing of memories and experiences, politics among the Gubprwufu is quite simple compared to that of (for example) humanity. As ideas spread across a population, individuals process them through their idea filters and accept or reject them. Individuals inevitably think about and discuss politics, and these thoughts and memories also enter the overall memories of the group of a whole, which may change individuals minds, or spark off new ideas. Eventually a consensus is reached, or in rarer cases, opinion crystallises into two or more irreconcilable groups, to the point that they are unable to reach a consensus. In this case a social group may split into two or more sub-groups which then proceed to go their own way.

Although memories are shared, as with other aspects of their society individual Gubprwufu do differ, and so some may be more persuasive than others and able to shape public opinion in certain directions. Even so this shaping does not occur easily or quickly...

From a human perspective, the Gubprwufu are, as a species, natural communists, who really can selflessly devote themselves to the good of society as a whole, give according to their abilities, and only take according to their needs. Because of their sharing of memories their polities do not tend towards inflexible dictatorships as happened in, for example, the Soviet Union on Earth.

Although their society is highly egalitarian, and runs on consensus, they do have what a human might call leaders, or at least 'opinion formers'. These are individuals who:

• Consistently come up with good ideas that the rest of a polity accepts.
• Are sufficiently convincing that they can talk a large fraction of others into accepting an idea.
• Or some combination of these.

Contact between different Gubprwufu polities while maintaining boundaries and borders between them is not really a practical prospect simply because memories will inevitably 'leak' between them, even if there were a difference of spoken language. Ambassadors between such groups are also not really a practical prospect as the ambassador (and other visitors) will tend to merge into the polity in which they live, not necessarily to the point of being subsumed by them, but certainly to the point where their loyalties will be at least split between their home and the place they live.

Because of this, Gubprwufu polities have a tendency to grow together into larger groups when contact occurs between them.

One exception to this is that geographically isolated populations can also have isolated complexes of memories and ideas. Thus islanders and so on can be very different in thoughts and attitudes to others. It can be possible for the idea filters of such very different groups to have reached states such that there are irreconcilable differences between them, regardless of how much contact they share, due to their worldviews and so on simply not having enough overlap to allow commonality.

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THE ECONOMY

As natural communists the Gubprwufu have no need for money, simply because every individual knows where they fit into society and contributes to it and receives from it as required. Thus their economy is governed by consensus among individual Gubprwufu and between their social groups, and also on limitations imposed by resource availability, rather than on the need to make a profit. This makes it much simpler and less competitive than (for example) the human economy on Earth, though at least as capable of achieving great things.

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CRIME AND LAW

Even though a hive mind species, the Gubprwufu do have crime. However, it is of a different nature to that among humans. The most significant difference is that cold-blooded, planned crimes are almost unheard of among them, simply because it is so hard to keep them secret. Unless an individual keeps themselves very isolated from the rest of Gubprwufu society - something that is unusual in its own right - their thoughts and memories will inevitably 'leak' out into others around them. This will almost inevitably trigger action on the part of those others to prevent the planned crime.

The reverse memory transfer into the potential criminal often also triggers second thoughts and reconsideration of their action as all Gubprwufu in a group or area will know one another to the point of effectively being one another, so that committing a crime against another is largely indistinguishable to committing it against oneself.

Crimes of passion, that is unplanned, spontaneous actions, do exist, simply because for these there is no time for the effects of the overall Gubprwufu hive mind to be felt. Because of this there are social mechanisms and institutions to deal with them. The mechanism by which memories are shared between individuals means that these are, in general, simple and unsophisticated by human standards.

Crimes of negligence and omission also occur for much the same reason(s) as they do among humans. They are dealt with in much the same way as crimes of passion.

In general crimes are dealt with simply by allowing the transfer of memories between perpetrator(s) and victim(s). There is no justice system beyond this, no equivalent of lawyers and courts, and little in the way of occupations that might be considered related to law enforcement. By ensuring that all of those affected by a crime are fully aware of all aspects of it - from all points of view - understanding and social harmony are achieved, at least in most cases [in human terms this acts much like an enhanced version of restorative justice, that is, an approach to justice that focuses on the needs of victims and offenders, instead of the need to satisfy the abstract principles of law or the need of the community to exact punishment].

As a side effect of this, there is no equivalent of state secrets among the Gubprwufu, and no concept of such a thing as secret police. There is also very little need for 'normal' policing, as their biology makes much of this unnecessary.

The only individuals who might have a 'career' in crime are those with certain medical conditions. For example, those Gubprwufu who are 'mute', in that they have some medical condition that prevents Eb'P [Muninns] from gaining memories from them, and can thus keep their innermost thoughts secret from the Gubprwufu around them, would be able to plan and carry out crimes without being found out, though they would still receive the memories of their victims and so on, which might discourage them. On the other hand those who are 'deaf' to DNA messages may lack the empathy to not commit crimes in the first place, but unless they are also mute are likely to broadcast any criminal leanings to the Gubprwufu community at large and so be stopped that way. Those who are both 'deaf' and 'mute' are most likely to be able to harbour criminality, but because of the conditions that let them do so they are likely to be ignorant and otherwise less qualified to be successful criminals than an average Gubprwufu.

The Gubprwufu do have their own versions of psychopaths and so on, but again because of the sharing of memories such disorders can be detected at a very early stage and dealt with; precisely how this is done varies among different groups of Gubprwufu.

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DRESS AND DECORATION

Under most circumstances, in the part of Gu-Pu-Kra in which they evolved the Gubprwufu have no need for clothes, and so with no privacy or modesty to make them do otherwise, do not use them. In other hotter and colder regions of Gu-Pu-Kra they will, however, use them as necessary to keep their body temperature stable. These can be either heat-excluding or insulating, depending on the environment in question.

In general clothing consists of a body suit with a vent down the back to expose the Eb'P [Muninn] hive, and normally a form of tentacle-glove held on with straps. Footwear is used as needed. With the development of higher technology, actively heated and cooled clothing is also used. Within these bounds, styles and colours of clothing vary widely.

Because of their lack of modesty and so on they make no use of jewellery or other such ostentations, though they do have as aesthetic to their clothing and decorative features on it.

In addition to protective and decorative clothing, Gubprwufu wear clothing to hold items belts with pouches or tool holders and also to indicate the role they are currently filling, and so to allow specific individuals to be identified at a distance. These last include sashes, bands of cloth and so on, and are similar to human uniforms and insignia of rank, but the far more fluid nature of Gubprwufu groups means that individual Gubprwufu are likely to change position and thus role indicators far more often than a human might.

There are situations where Gubprwufu need to use protective clothing to avoid some environmental hazard. In most cases these suits also contain their Eb'P as well as the Gubprwufu they inhabit. This means that the Gubprwufu lose inter-individual DNA memory transfer while 'buttoned up', but their Eb'P survive, and they can still talk audibly to one another.

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FOOD AND DRINK

The ectothermic [cold-blooded] metabolism of the Gubprwufu means that they need to eat considerably less frequently than (for example) Earth mammals, even taking into account their less efficient respiratory biochemistry and the need to ingest solid nitrate to respire with. As such meal times have a high degree of social significance for them and are normally very communal events where Gubprwufu meet to eat, gossip and renew social bonds. This is helped by the increased intermixing of memories via Eb'P [Muninn] exchange that occurs at these events.

The needs of their metabolism require these meals every 100 Earth hours [some 4.3 Earth days] or so. The periodicity of these is one of the major time divisions the Gubprwufu use.

The diet of the Gubprwufu is mostly herbivorous, but does contain a significant quantity of meat and other animal products. Among these are the 'honey' of other animals, for which animals may be farmed in addition to being farmed for meat.

The Gubprwufu make wide use of volcanic heat for cooking, despite the lack of fire on Gu-Pu-Kra. They are adept at roasting, boiling, grilling, steaming and so on, as well as preserving food via drying, salting, pickling and fermentation.

Meals are served from communal cooking facilities, with individuals serving themselves and taking over cooking and cleaning duties as required.

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ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

The Gubprwufu do have arts as creativity is at least as common among them as among humans, and even if an individual does not have its 'spark' to any great degree, the sharing of memories means that all of an audience understand the drive to create a given work, and what the artist intended with it.

As with humans, Gubprwufu arts include the visual, the musical and the narrative. However, the details of these vary greatly from the human, due to the different frequencies of light they see, the different frequencies of sound they hear, and the different psychological and social/cultural background they have.

Very little art is intended to deliberately shock or offend, but some is intended to challenge or support some idea or proposal, though most is art for arts sake.

One art form that is not shared with (for example) humans is based on their memory sharing. Thoughts are memories and are transferred as DNA. Daydreams are thoughts, and so can be transferred. Thus the Gubprwufu have a highly developed art of daydreaming, with different daydreamers producing different types and 'styles' of daydream, including the abstract, the lucid, the drug-induced and the drug-boosted.

Another form of art that the Gubprwufu take seriously is that involving kites of all kinds, including decorative, functional and/or acrobatic ones. All are appreciated and enjoyed by the Gubprwufu, and kite-flying competitions of various kinds are common among them.

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LANGUAGE

Because of the structure of the Gubprwufu speech organ, spoken Gubprwufu language is made up of clicking and grunting sounds with a prevalence of 'g', 'd' and 'u' type components. To a human it might sound like a modulated mixture of multi-tonal finger clicking, burping, mouth pops and the popping of bubble wrap. Because their speech organ is independent of breath [not that the Gubprwufu respire through gas exchange in any case] they can speak constantly and for long periods without pausing. Thus their speech has a very different rhythm to that of (for example) humans. Click the icon to hear an example of the speech of a Gubprwufu frequency-shifted to lie within the human hearing range.

As for humans, geographical isolation among different groups of Gubprwufu has inevitably led to their language diverging from that of other groups. However, unlike humans, their sharing of memories between individuals, which uses the same DNA 'language' for all Gubprwufu, makes the learning of languages very simple for the Gubprwufu and leads to linguistic convergence among different groups. As they all come to know the languages of the other(s) their separate languages inevitably merge into one with (what their idea filters consider to be) the best elements of all of them coming to used by all of its speakers. [This is very much unlike the case with humans, where it can be difficult for groups to learn others languages, and even within a language divergences of dialects and vocabulary happen very easily.]

Words in one of the more common Gubprwufu languages, can be generated using this Gubprwufu Word Generator.

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NUMBERS

The Gubprwufu count in base 6, which is the product of their number of manipulative limbs (three) multiplied by the number of digits per limb (two). Thus their number system has significant intervals at numbers given by different combinations of powers of three multiplied by powers of two (3n x 2m) [so at 0, 2, 3, 4 and so on, with the ones based on 3 being considered different to those based on 2], with particularly significant ones when the three and the two are multiplied by the same power (3n x 2n) [which is the same as 6n, so these divisions are at 6, 18, 54, 162 and so on rather than 10, 100, 1000, or 10000].

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GUBPRWUFU SETTLEMENTS

As for humans, the structure and layout of Gubprwufu settlements is governed by their psychology and physiology, as well as economics.

Gubprwufu do not live in individual family units as humans do, or even in larger extended family groups. Instead, large groups of up to their nominal social group size [some 500 individuals, as compared to some 150 for humans] - 'unit groups' - live together areas descended from the walled compounds used in primitive times to protect the young and their food supplies from predators. Such an area on its own is the smallest size of Gubprwufu settlement that is likely to be found on Gu-Pu-Kra.

In general these area are subdivided into smaller areas according to their use. Because of the blurring of 'unit groups' into one another in settlements larger than an individual 'unit group' these areas also blur with their neighbours to the point that an outsider would be unable to tell where one ends and another begins.

Because of the lack or a need for privacy among the Gubprwufu, the layout of their buildings and so on have divisions relating to function, climate control and so on, but not any relating to privacy. For example, toilet facilities are built to take account of the needs of hygiene, but nothing else; there is also no equivalent to how humans might divide toilets according to gender.

The implicit consensus among Gubprwufu social groups means that areas within their settlements tend to have a unified 'look' to them. This does not mean they are uniform though, as different areas may be built at different times and to different standards and ideas, leading to differences in architecture. This may be especially obvious where old and new areas adjoin one another.

Individual Gubprwufu and Gubprwufu groups can, and do, also personalise their dwellings and so on according to their own ideas and tastes. But again, memory sharing and so on means that these tend to blend with their neighbours rather than jar with them.

The Gubprwufu are quite capable of climbing suitably configured stairs and ramps, so their dwellings can extend over multiple levels. Given the strong winds and often harsh weather of Gu-Pu-Kra, Gubprwufu buildings are generally built down into the ground rather than up from it [very similar to human rock cut architecture and earth sheltering as used in, for example, the Loire Valley village of Rochemenier, Chinese yaodongs and in Iran]. Larger settlements often extend into an interlocking mesh of subsurface spaces which, with increasing levels of technology, can go deeper and deeper. From above, their downward-going cities appear like interlocking grids of channels or small canyons. Some have very straight, geometric walls, while others are more natural-seeming, depending on both the ground they are built into and the technology and plan used to build them at all.

In general Gubprwufu settlements are generally pedestrianised and scattered with parks and other open areas, as well as meeting places and routes for non-pedestrian traffic, generally buses, trams or trains. Even in pedestrianised areas streets tend to be large enough to emergency vehicles to be able to move through them if required.

All Gubprwufu architecture is adapted to cope with the relatively high [compared to, for example, the Earth] rate of tectonic activity on Gu-Pu-Kra. This is particularly the case because Gubprwufu technology and industry generally grew up around volcanic and geothermal heat sources which are also areas of above-average tectonic activity. Settlements in coastal areas will probably also be resistant to the effects of tsunami and storm surges.

With yet higher levels of technology larger above-ground structures are also possible, but these tend to be large, bulky and strong to resist harsh weather.

Another effect of the often-harsh weather of Gu-Pu-Kra is that cities there, especially those that reach down into the ground, have very good drainage and other such infrastructure.

Perhaps more obviously for other races (such as humans) the height of rooms, size of doors and so on are adapted for their size and body plan of the Gubprwufu. As such members of differently-constructed races might well find their buildings uncomfortable at the very least, even if they could breathe the atmosphere of Gu-Pu-Kra.

One significant difference between Gubprwufu and human buildings is that, because of their very different respiratory systems, while their buildings may have heating, they tend not to worry about ventilation other than in locations where actual poisons might build up.

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SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

As for humans, Gubprwufu science and technology has been very much driven by the environment of their world and their perceptions of it, as well as by elements of their physiology and psychology.

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THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

The initial technological development of the Gubprwufu was not unlike that of humanity, making use of natural materials - stone, wood, bone, animal skins, plant fibres and so on - to construct tools, shelter and other artefacts.

However, the anaerobic environment of Gu-Pu-Kra, and thus the lack of fire there, caused the path of Gubprwufu technological development to greatly diverge from that taken by humanity after this point. Without fire, many Gubprwufu were limited to a stone-age level of technology with little chance to advance beyond it, even for a genius-level intellect. This did not prevent the development of complex societies with as advanced a level of technology as the available materials allowed, including the wheel, roads, cities, the pickling and preserving of food, and so on [not unlike those of, for example, the Maya on Earth].

The high level of volcanic activity on Gu-Pu-Kra did mean that many Gubprwufu had access to volcanic or geothermal sources of heat [many more so than was the case for humans on Earth]. It did not take long for them to learn to take advantage of this for cooking (via roasting, baking, boiling and steaming, not unlike, for example, the Maori on Earth), heating their homes and in the processing of materials. This last initially took the form of pottery, then glassware and eventually metalwork using naturally available metals of low melting point [on Earth, and on Gu-Pu-Kra, volcanic lava emerges at temperatures between 700 and 1300°C; this is sufficiently high to allow the smelting of metals such as gold, copper, bronze and brass, though not of iron, as well as fire ceramics and so on].

As a side effect of this their skills with glass and ceramics have always been considerably more advanced than their metallurgy, and so these materials are correspondingly more widely used.

Despite the hindrances of their environment all of this allowed the Gubprwufu, and particularly those living around geothermal regions, to advance in what humans would call science and industry. This was helped by their natural egalitarianism, ability to work well in large groups and lack of infighting. Their sharing of memories also made it much harder for discoveries and knowledge to be concealed or lost, which also helped their advancement and let them avoid what humans might call dark ages.

Chemistry aided by geothermal heat was their most advanced science for a long period [not unlike the case for humans]. Investigations into lightning brought the discovery of electricity and how to generate, store and use it using the resources available on Gu-Pu-Kra and without fire as such. This included geothermal, wind and water-powered generating systems of various kinds along with chemical batteries.

As part of the development of electrical technology electrical heaters and other devices were developed. Heaters allowed the Gubprwufu to remain active into the night side of Gu-Pu-Kra. Other electrical developments allowed the use of electroplating and more importantly the creation of electric arc furnaces which allowed the generation of higher levels of heat than geothermal and volcanic sources allowed.

This latter led to the discovery and eventual purification, processing and use of high melting point metals such as iron. This facilitated the development of Gubprwufu technology to still higher levels, though over much longer timescales than it took humanity to do the same.

Because of how Gubprwufu technology developed, metals were considered useful but not too much so until after the development of (for example) iron via high-temperature research. This view was aided by the fact that although without oxygen metals do not rust on Gu-Pu-Kra, the fact that most water on Gu-Pu-Kra - including the rain - is at least somewhat acidic means that metals must be protected from corrosion from this source.

One other electrical invention was that of electrolysis. This led to the discovery of other more dangerous substances such as oxygen [by the splitting of water into hydrogen and oxygen]. Although poisonous and dangerous in other ways oxygen was also highly useful, and eventually became used in a wide variety of processes, further driving the development of Gubprwufu technology.

One factor which limited Gubprwufu development was the fact that the thick atmosphere of Gu-Pu-Kra [as compared to the Earth] makes navigation by the stars more difficult because atmospheric refraction affects the positions of the stars as well as of Rp'Gu more than it does on (for example) the Earth. This makes navigation using them for guidance harder on Gu-Pu-Kra as there is a smaller region of the sky, towards the zenith, in which relatively undistorted star positions can be found.

One issue which has arisen in the development of technology by the Gubprwufu is that certain technologies and processes - in particular chemical ones - that are not dangerous to the Gubprwufu themselves can have a negative effect on their Eb'P [Muninn] symbiotes. There have been several incidents throughout Gubprwufu history when otherwise-promising civilisations were brought down by a technologically-induced population crash among their Eb'P, which made them no longer a hive mind, with all the problems this implies. They were not utterly destroyed by this - individuals were still sentient and could exchange memories by 'kissing' - but the societies where this occurred were highly disrupted. Because of this, current Gubprwufu civilisations are careful when considering making wide use of some new process to assess its impact not just on them, but also upon their Eb'P, and in many cases on the larger ecosystem of which they both form a part.

Even so, problems with Eb'P can, and sometimes still do, happen in subgroups of society, for example among chemical workers, nuclear reactor staff, miners and so on. Such groups can be strange, weird, outsider or otherwise isolated as they have a tendency to be cut off from society via their work. Where this is unavoidable, Gubprwufu societies have tried their best to evolve ways around the problem, for example by limiting the time these groups spend away from contact with others so that they do not diverge too much from them, or by (for example) chemical works having Eb'P hives from which exiting workers can replenish their Eb'P population. Of course this can still be a problem if workers are too highly contaminated in some way, and still means that although such individuals may acquire memories from others, their memories may not filter out into society as a whole as well as those of others do.

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ENERGY TECHNOLOGY

Because of the constant high winds of Gu-Pu-Kra the Gubprwufu developed windmill technology very early on, and use it to this day. In addition to this, the high level of geological activity on Gu-Pu-Kra means that geothermal energy is widely used, as is wave (though not tidal) energy. Originally used 'as is', with the development of high technology all of these sources of energy came to be used for the generation of electrical power which is transmitted to where it is needed via cables much as is done on the Earth.

Because of the higher temperature differentials between the top and bottom of the ocean in locations close to the point at which Rp'Gu is at the zenith, systems essentially identical to those proposed for ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) power sources on Earth are also used.

Due to the long history of life on Gu-Pu-Kra, and the plentiful geothermal energy to create it, oil and gas are common on Gu-Pu-Kra. However, because there is no oxygen for combustion there, internal and external combustion engines as used by humans are simply not possible on Gu-Pu-Kra. Some steam engines that make use of volcanic heat to boil water have been used but these are generally impractical.

Because of the powerful winds and weather of Gu-Pu-Kra the Gubprwufu tend to distribute electrical power using buried or underwater cables rather than via cables suspended from pylons. This makes the creation of their electrical infrastructure a rather more laborious process than (for example) on Earth, but also makes the resulting system rather more robust.

One major difference arising from the anaerobic environment of Gu-Pu-Kra is that fire is treated as a potentially dangerous industrial process, not in the semi-casual way it is by humans. Perhaps the most analogous thing on Earth is the way piped gas is treated - as useful, but also as something to be careful of.

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TRANSPORTATION TECHNOLOGY

Because there is no combustion on Gu-Pu-Kra, before the invention of electrical technology by the Gubprwufu their vehicles had to use other sources of power. The first of these were muscle-powered [as on Earth], being pulled by animals or by Gubprwufu. Others included, and in many cases still include, gravity, compressed air, springs, flywheels and sails or other forms of wind power [as in, for example land yachts]. Wind power is still used at sea, where sail or kite-propelled vessels are very common.

In many cases wind and watermills provide the original power which is stored internally by the vehicles (via a compressor, spring winding mechanism and so on) until used; in others geothermal steam is used to provide power; this could be from natural sources, or via equipment installed by the Gubprwufu. For gravity-powered vehicles an external power source - sometimes a windmill - hauls them back up to their starting point.

In some places cable car railways [not unlike that in San Francisco on Earth] are used.

The thick air and high winds of Gu-Pu-Kra, combined with its many flying animals, meant that the Gubprwufu developed flying vehicles quite early in their history. Originally in the form of Gubprwufu-carrying kites [equivalent to man-lifting kites on Earth], over time these evolved into true gliders of any number of different types and then, as appropriate power sources became available, into true powered aeroplanes.

Most transportation on Gu-Pu-Kra is of the public variety, with trains, ships and aeroplanes providing long-distance transportation where it is required. The same is true within settlements, with railways and buses providing most transportation. There are still some individual vehicles, but there also tend to be of the public service variety and include emergency response vehicles such as ambulances and fire engines.

Muscle-powered vehicles - Gubprwufu 'bicycles' - also still exist. Again, these tend to be communal, with individuals using them and leaving them as required.

When the Gubprwufu develop space travel it is quite likely that their first astronauts are their children. This is because their children can be programmed with skills quite as readily as adults, and also because adult Gubprwufu are quite large (larger than adult humans) and their world is also higher gravity than the Earth, so that sending a suitably-programmed child into space is considerably easier than sending an adult.

One difference that will affect Gubprwufu space development is that the tidal locking of Gu-Pu-Kra to Rp'Gu means that it is not possible to put satellites into a Gu-Pu-Kra-synchronous orbit about the planet [equivalent to a geosynchronous orbit around the Earth]. The closest equivalents would be the less useful Gu-Pu-Kra-Rp'Gu L1 and L2 points between Gu-Pu-Kra and Rp'Gu and on the far side of Gu-Pu-Kra from Rp'Gu respectively.

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MEDICINE AND MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY

Gubprwufu medicine and medical technology have advanced faster than that among (for example) humans, because individuals share memories among themselves. This greatly simplifies both diagnosis of ailments and judging the effectiveness of treatments as those involved in the care of others know how they feel rather than having to interpret what they are told or can discover. As part of this, anaesthetics and the germ theory of disease were developed by the Gubprwufu much earlier than they were by humans.

As another effect of this, there are no areas of medicine that are neglected for irrational reasons [as what are considered to be 'women's problems' have often been neglected on Earth] and thus all areas of medicine are equally studied.

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BIOTECHNOLOGY

As their technology has developed the Gubprwufu have gained an understanding of how the processes of life function, which has led them to develop forms of biotechnology suited for the life forms of Gu-Pu-Kra, to provide medical, agricultural and other benefits analogous to those obtained from biotechnology by humans.

As part of this they have domesticated a number of species. However, due to the exchanging of memories between members of a given species the domestication of plants and animals is rather harder on Gu-Pu-Kra than it would be on Earth, because unless individuals can be isolated from the superorganism of which they form a part the superorganism as a whole must be domesticated rather than individuals of the species. This is rather easier for plants than for animals, but is possible for animals. In particular, animals which have evolved to be true individuals were probably among the first to be domesticated, with other memory-sharing species being domesticated later, via a process of 'convincing' the superorganism that domestication was a good thing for it.

One important development of Gubprwufu biotechnology which has no corresponding function among humans is the use of biotechnology to generate artificial DNA memory packages allowing individuals - and in particular children - to be 'programmed' with specific skill sets. Depending on their level of technology this might simply involve replicating existing but particularly useful DNA memory sets, or the creation of entirely synthetic memory sets whose complexity depends on the level of technology available. These could include (for example) mathematics, sciences and other forms of knowledge and experience.

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ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY

Because of how their respiratory systems function, the Gubprwufu do not need their buildings to be ventilated beyond the level required to avoid the build up of toxins and other undesirable gases. However, their buildings do tend to be heated, at least where it is possible, as this helps the cold-blooded Gubprwufu to remain active regardless of the outside temperature.

The Gubprwufu tend to use incandescent lighting for illumination as incandescent bulbs are a fairly efficient and easy way for them to generate light with a spectrum roughly equivalent to that of Rp'Gu. This is because the temperature of Rp'Gu is not unlike that of the filament of an incandescent bulb; this is very much unlike the case on Earth, where the Sun is considerably hotter and the spectrum of an incandescent bulb a much worse match to it.

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COMPUTING AND DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY

Their sharing of memories allows the Gubprwufu to share tasks - and the knowledge of how to perform tasks effectively - among groups of individuals relatively easily and in a coordinated fashion [that is, they are very effective at being computers in the original sense of the word]. Because of this they developed computing machines rather later in their technological history than was the case for humans. Their first computers were simple machines used by individuals to contribute results to an overall group task. However, over time more and more complex machines of this type were used and began to be linked together independently of their Gubprwufu operators to form increasingly complex and capable networks. Because of this Gubprwufu computing technology has developed in almost the opposite 'direction' to that of (for example) humans, starting with simple machines that became linked into more and more intricate networks [as opposed to humans who began with large and complex monolithic machines that have, over time, become linked into networks].

Because of their evolution from networks, Gubprwufu computer systems all involve networks as a fundamental part of the system, and these are highly efficient and robust. Many of them mimic methods used by the Gubprwufu as part of their memory sharing to coordinate and synchronise between machines much as individual Gubprwufu coordinate and synchronise with each other or society as a whole.

To an individual of a race such as humans, using a Gubprwufu computer would probably be rather challenging. The simplest part would be the use of the Gubprwufu equivalent of a keyboard, which is not entirely unlike that used by humans. Gubprwufu computer displays would be much more difficult. Firstly, because their vision is highly red-shifted compared to that of humans, only the red parts of the display would be visible to humans, with the infra-red parts being invisible. Secondly, the very wide angle over which the Gubprwufu see compared to humans means they can pay attention to all of a very wide screen at once, which would be almost impossible for a being such as a human with a relatively narrow field of vision.

It is possible that with sufficiently advanced technology Gubprwufu DNA packages could be read and input directly to computers, and vice versa, computers could generate output in the form of DNA packages which Gubprwufu could integrate into themselves in the same way as they do for packages from other individuals.

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MILITARY TECHNOLOGY

As might be expected given their history and culture, the military technology of the Gubprwufu is one of their least well developed areas [at least compared to humans], simply because their nature has precluded many - though by no means all - significant conflicts throughout their history. This does not mean, however, that they have no weapons and are unprepared to defend themselves. Even in a technological age, there are still a significant number of dangerous animals, and indeed plants, on Gu-Pu-Kra, on land and at sea, and a number of weapons exist that allow Gubprwufu to deal with these should it be required.

Obviously these could be used against other Gubprwufu, but this very rarely occurs. It would also be possible to develop chemical or biological weapons for use against Eb'P [Muninns] rather than Gubprwufu as they are easier to attack. To protect against this Gubprwufu protective suits would have to be able to hold Eb'P as well as an individual Gubprwufu.

Their sensor technology has largely developed from a background in scientific research rather than military need.

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RELIGION

Like humans, the Gubprwufu do possess religious beliefs. As it is speculated was the case among humans, these grew up out of attempts by primitive, unscientific beings to explain the world around them and events within it. However, because of the many differences between Gubprwufu and humans, their religions also tend to be very different to those of humans.

The most major difference is that the Gubprwufu have very few - and possibly no - religions based on stories of miracles and other supernatural events. This arises because of how they share memories among one another, a side effect of which is that stories tend not to grow in the telling as they do among (for example) humans. Likewise very few Gubprwufu religions have happened because of some miraculous revelation, though those that did have often had great influence, because in those that do there are memories of it. Some of these have been inspired by drugs or other hallucinatory experiences among its founder(s).

Instead, philosophical inspiration tends to be the source of most of their religions. Thus their religions tend to be explanations for things - philosophies - rather involve than active worship of some spiritual being or beings. Thus Gubprwufu religions tend to be more analogous to Buddhism than to the Abrahamic religions on Earth.

Another effect of their sharing of memories is that their religions are much less subject to schism than (for example) human religions simply because it allows for much less interpretation and variation of opinion among them.

Despite all of this the Gubprwufu do have widespread creation myths and beliefs in certain supernatural entities, though they tend to be ones that have little impact on day-to-day life.

Some Gubprwufu creation myths consider Rp'Gu to be a huge ball of molten lava thrown out by a cosmic volcano of some kind at the creation of the world or the universe. In these myths the other stars in the sky are sparks from the same volcanic eruption.

They do have a concept of the soul. However, they do not consider individuals to have distinct souls. Instead, they consider that there is a common soul to them all, that is equally distributed among all individuals. Individuals swap parts of the overall soul between them, with the exchange of memories and so on being the tangible evidence of this. Different parts of this common soul can be quite different because of geographical separation and so on, but because they are fundamentally compatible with one another they are considered to be part of the common species-soul.

Some Gubprwufu have taken this further and consider that each species that exchanges memories between physical individuals has its own common soul too. Others have taken this further yet and consider that above the species-souls is a 'would soul' of which all these species souls are a part as individuals are members of the species-soul. Other worlds with life may be considered to have their own world-soul, above which might be a galaxy-soul or a universe-soul.

Ideas are little sparks of the species-soul (or even higher level souls) coming directly from it to an individual rather than from another physical individual. They are considered to be good things. Some consider that the greater souls (whatever they might be) talk to them via ideas, which are considered to be spiritual Eb'P [Muninn]. Their whole concept of ideas is based on this and their terminology still reflects these origins even though their understanding of how such things actually work may well have advanced from there.

In terms of how their lives and souls link together, the Gubprwufu see each individual starting as a new fresh entity. This new entity is quickly linked to its parents by natal DNA transfers which fill it with an initial part of the species-soul. As soon as it is born, transfers from others change and add to its part of the species-soul, and it also begins to contribute to the souls of other individuals. Thus each individual begins as a small 'stalk' that quickly links to others and is linked to by them in a highly complex network. As an extra part of this there are ideas that appear, either out of an individual or from the species or world-soul, and which also contribute to one or more Gubprwufu as they are absorbed and, perhaps, spread.

Species that do not swap DNA memories are considered to still be connected to the world-soul but not to have a species-soul. These beliefs might consider the lack of a species-soul to be at the root of the problems of a species such as humanity with separate individuals [perhaps not unreasonably!].

A majority of Gubprwufu also view Time - or perhaps Entropy - as a malevolent deity. One that takes or eats a part of everything with the passing of time, on and on until eventually it has all gone and a being dies or knowledge and experience is gone. In many views time is considered not unlike 'anti-Muninn', something that incrementally takes away rather than incrementally giving or exchanging.

Some Gubprwufu groups revere some types of 'memory thieves' as repositories of parts of the dead. Some of them hunt the memory thieves for the same reason, so as to regain the stolen memories of the dead. Some memory thieves have become 'domesticated' by this process, to the point of becoming intelligent domestic social animals in a symbiotic relationship with the Gubprwufu, perhaps in a vaguely dog-like manner, not sentient, but semi-so.

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OTHER RACES

Until it is demonstrated otherwise, the Gubprwufu will most likely assume other sentient races to be hive mind being like themselves. It may take them a while to adjust to the concept of non-hive-mind sentients.

Despite being based on similar biochemistry to that of (for example) Earth-based life, the anaerobic environment to which the Gubprwufu and the other life forms of Gu-Pu-Kra are adapted is utterly inhospitable to oxygen-breathing life such as that from Earth, and vice versa. However, disregarding differences in atmosphere and the like, the worlds of each are not dissimilar, so it is not inconceivable that the Gubprwufu might wish to Gu-Pu-Kra-form the Earth, or humans terraform Gu-Pu-Kra. Even without this, there is a risk of competition over other resources than living space, such as asteroidal minerals and so on.

Were conflict to arise with a race of individuals, such as humans, given a level playing field the lack of secrecy among the Gubprwufu, and their need for consensus, would probably work against them in the early stages. However, if they survived past this stage, and once consensus was reached, their memory sharing and ability to work well in large groups would probably give them the edge.

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NOTES

The Gubprwufu are intended to be a scientifically plausible hive-mind race, one that does not rely on pseudoscience in the form of things such as psionic powers to allow it to exist. But they are not a constantly-linked hive. Their minds are separate, and they are not linked in any psionic manner. Thus their groups are more analogous to the hives of social insects, only an improvement on them because of their mechanisms for exchanging memories.

Their coming from an advanced anaerobic ecosystem was something that developed as my thoughts on the Gubprwufu evolved, as something that was interesting and yet also, as far as I can judge, scientifically plausible. Their minds being biological DNA computers is also something that seemed interesting, and one which allowed the relatively straightforward transfer of memories between individuals while also remaining plausible.

Gu-Pu-Kra, their home world, is based on what is currently (as of 2011) understood to be a scientifically realistic view about what habitable worlds around red dwarf stars might be like [see also here for another view on this].

The Gubprwufu speech sample was created using Audacity. It is made from combined and modified sound samples from Pdsounds.Org, including popping bubble wrap, finger clicks, a mouth pop and a burp.

The map of Gu-Pu-Kra was generated using the Fractal Worldmap Generator. MATLAB was used to generate the illumination zone borders, and map it onto a globe. The MATLAB code to do so can be found here.

The cladogram of Gu-Pu-Kraian life was also generated using a set of MATLAB m-files of my own creation. A zip file of the MATLAB files and the input text files used to generate the raw image can be found here.

The Gubprwufu Word Generator is derived from the Traveller alien word generator software found at the Welcome to The Patinir Belt site.

The background used on these pages is also not mine. It is used here without permission, but for personal use only and not for profit or other financial gain.

The font used in the banner of this page is called Clouds of Hope. It comes from the Fontspace.Com site.

The audio icon used on this page comes from the Wikimedia Commons. It is used here without permission, but for personal use only and not for profit or other financial gain.

The kite festival picture used here is a modified version of one from the TopNews.in site. As with the other images here it is used here without permission, but for personal use only and not for profit or other financial gain.

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