Leik

The Leiks (//, singular "Leik") were a sentient species native to Mir Kaldu`uz in the Unknown Regions.

Biology and appearance
Though mostly humanoid, Leiks were distinct for the thin tentacles which grew from their shoulders. Called "barb-lashes", these tentacles had wiry muscle and cartilage throughout, which gave them great flexibility. They were usually one-and-a-half times the length of the Leik's arm, which allowed them reach beyond the hands. The barb-lashes could strike very quickly, almost impossible for the eye to follow. Each was tipped with a hardened, barbed bone spur which could rake several slashes in the flesh of another being. The barbs were venomous to many species (with varying degrees of incapacitation or lethality), though the Leiks themselves were mostly immune to their own venom, experiencing only a mild stinging sensation. However, the barb-lashes were still fast and powerful enough to split open a throat.

Most Leiks had skin in shades of gray, from light to gunmetal, although albino Leiks did exist. They grew hair on their heads, although males tended to be bald toward the front of their scalps, with much lighter coverings along the rest of their bodies. Leik eyes came in most colors.

Leiks gave birth to live young after six months of pregnancy; younglings were born with their barb-lashes, but the hard barbs did not develop until around six years of age. The venom in them developed during puberty. Leiks reached physical maturity around the age of sixteen standard years.

Society and culture
Given their utility for violence, Leiks usually wore their barb-lashes coiled around their arms, with the barbs resting along the backs of their hands. Some even wore deliberately designed sheaths for the barbs on their wrists. Wearing one's barb-lashes loose was considered a sign of aggression among Leiks.

The Leiks were an aggressively isolationist people, both between communities and against offworlders. Warfare between Leik societies was regular, although not constant, and Leik mercenaries were prized through the Tetrarchy of Mezlagob.

Leik society was traditionally male-dominated, with male Leiks holding all major government posts and doing all fighting. When contact was opened with the Tetrarchy of Mezlagob, many more independent female Leiks sought opportunities offworld; the subsequent drain on available mates equalized some aspects of society and gave females more opportunities, though warfare continued to be regarded as an exclusively male pursuit.

History
Leiks evolved as the apex predator on their murky homeworld of Mir Kaldu`uz, using their barb-lashes to subdue or kill prey before devouring it. Their own theorists believed they developed sentience around 21,000 BBY. Leik communities emerged as hunting packs, but gradually became settled across Mir Kaldu`uz's swamps. Warfare over the millennia gradually created a series of nations with distinct identities and languages, which would persist through history.

At some point, the Leiks developed spacefaring technology. Though they had no hyperdrives, they mastered a variation of repulsor technology which allowed precise navigation, gradually exploring their star system. Each major country built at least one orbital shipyard, setting off a multicentury arms race.

Scouts from the Tetrarchy of Mezlagob first encountered the Leiks c. 300 BBY, and attempted without success to persuade them to join the government. Three subsequent invasions were also repulsed by the Leiks, and the countries set aside their differences to combine their spacecraft into a single fleet which massacred a Tetrarchy strike force. The Tetrarchy conceded to let the Leiks remain independent, turning its eyes on the wealthy Vall`to sector instead.

The Leiks remained somewhat independent, though they sold some of their spacecraft to the Tetrarchy in exchange for hyperspace-capable craft (and as a subtle tribute to ward off further attacks). While Mir Kaldu`uz remained formally aloof from the Great Liberation, different countries offered ships to both sides of the conflict. When the Golden Empire triumphed, Rin Sakaros visited Mir Kaldu`uz to solicit their membership in the Empire, offering them equal status with all other worlds and preservation of their governments, though under a Consul. Many Leiks were resistant, but aware that defeating Rin's Royal Army would likely be beyond them. By a combination of intimidation and the additional promise that the various Leik shipwrights would remain independent, Rin gradually won them over, if grudgingly.

Orhyo had developed as something of a second language in many parts of Mir Kaldu`uz, more to facilitate transactions with the Tetrarchy than between countries, but it enabled the Leiks to integrate quickly into the Empire. Many Leiks joined the Glorious Armada.

In the galaxy
Perhaps the most infamous Leik in the Golden Empire was the Red Eclipse leader Sayl Leikvold, who succeeded the even more notorious Zhin-Vel and died during the Ambush at Bolera. Decades later, Captain Salome Hrek would become a Legate during the Vagaari War and bring a more positive distinction to her people.

Appearances

 * "It Takes Only One"