Oh my Glod I love your book, 'The Amity Incident'! I must have read it n'th hundred times! Every time I read it, I discover something new! I Love It!
I would like to know if there is anything else you can tell us about the planet Amity or Enmity? What about the different types of human species are out there? Like the Melil? What other things flipped the Numidid minds, besides the metal boats and the lack of eggs? Lol!
I love this soooo much!!!
(I'm sorry if this means you have to revisit your old manuscripts to understand what I'm talking about.) -- Anon Guest
[AN: You're good, I think I have most of this ready to roll. BTW Melil are their own species who only look mostly human. It's a longer story that may be told another time.]
Planet Amity - famous as being the very first Terran colony found that successfully cohabited with a Havenworlder species. It is slightly less famous for being one of the very few Terran Colonies that survived whilst also having an optimistic name. This has lead more than a few historians to assume nothing bad ever happened there. However the local Humans, being Humans, annually celebrate the close brush both colonies had with a near-extermination event.
They are among many colony worlds with multiple, representative ambassadors. Through invention, innovation, or accident, Humans can play well with others provided they work at it. The most successful of these worlds use friendly competition in the place of war to keep the seemingly instinctual need for some kind of rivalry satisfied.
Seeded with two species of starter biota, the cross-splicing of genes has resulted in some truly interesting new species. Science had previously thought that Deathworlder genetic material would quickly overwhelm the Havenworlder contributors, but empirical evidence shows that this is not the case. Results like Spinefruit, with a Havenworlder-friendly, soft edible interior, and a Deathworlder-resistant spiky shell, continue to astound xenobiologists all through the Alliance.
Of course, homesick colonists named many of the new species based on similarities to creatures they knew from their origin world. The Amity Wuu-pa, for instance, has Deathworlder spines on its wings, and a unique species of toxic bacteria that they use to eventually kill their prey.
Amity Numidid are significantly more robust than their origin planet's peoples.
Enmity is a sister-world in the same stellar system, sharing the Goldilocks Zone with Amity. It had initially been missed by both species' seeker probes through pure accident. It was discovered later and, through friendly competition, quickly terraformed and colonised to match the original Amity. Naturally, through thematic irony, Enmity is a co-operative paradise whilst Amity still maintains at minimum mock-hostility between the two species. This usually erupts in agreed-upon competitive games.
The co-operative games are always where it gets interesting. Humans are innovative peoples and, besides the Life Race, they have invented many new and interesting sports in which both peoples can play together. Many of which also involve the Amity Riding Hound[1].
Amity and her sister colony Enmity are one of the few colony systems where cats have been selectively bred to ignore birds.
Toxic Island maintains its name, despite being a very small continent.
Other charming place names on Amity include: Farty Bog (It's now a lovely waterfront neighbourhood), Buggaroff (the planet's main spaceport city), and Ikansiyorhausfrumheer. Of course the last one is up a mountain.
Interestingly, Amity is now neighbours with two of the more interesting humanoid species that are not Human - the Melil and the Gyiik. The differenced between Human and Gyiik are far more obvious, since the Gyiik are Heavyworlders that tend to be far more stout than the average Human, and the Gyiik also possess four functional arms. They insist that it's not nearly as "handy as you'd think."
The Gyiik and Humans get along astonishingly well. It's all in the puns.
As for the Melil, they are the most likely to be mistaken for Humans. The Melil are different from Humans in that they evolved without separate genders. They are both at once, as the Humans say, and capable of either fertilising or being fertilised. Their biology is rather intricate and they usually don't share the intimate details with strangers.
Many customs on Amity are strange to Galactics as well as non-Amity Numidid. Human Shoulder-saddles are just one among the many customs of Amity that amuse and bemuse. Humans willing to be Numidid taxis wear the saddles as a sign of consent. Numidid coming in to land are expected to warn their impending mount with a shout of "Incoming!" so that their Human has time to brace themselves for the impact.
On both Amity and Enmity, it is considered polite to initiate conversations with the language of the species you are talking to. All citizens of both colony worlds are expected to speak Numidid, Terran English, and the Amity-specific Creole that originated in Wiwazheer. These are three disparate languages and there are dialects unique to each planet.
Fusion cuisine is especially predominant in Amity culture. Numidid versions of Human foods, Human versions of Numidid ones. The Amity Humans are considered unique for their acceptance of insects as a protein source. They are not, actually, unique, as the people of Brav'Nu[2] have leaped upon every new source of nutrition with eagerness in their hearts.
The Human capacity for plasticity of identity still perplexes Numidid kind no matter what their origin. They have simply accepted genderfluidity, gender identity, and their lack of relation to physical identifiers of such as just another Human Thing. Numidid do not need the "Coming Out of Age" that the Humans do, but they still attend as they consider it a beautiful ceremony and testament to the Human capacity for acceptance and love.
[1] Owners can, as many suggest, "stick a saddle on that thing". Amity Riding Hounds have been bred to be the gentlest, most patient, and overall adorable dogs known to the Alliance. They are also fantastic with keets and will keep a newly-hatched Numidid infant warm if the parents are absent for the hatching.
[2] Brav'Nu being what happens when a bunch of anti-terraforming zealots are allowed to "become one with the natural nature of their new world," as their charismatic leader once said. Now that they have survived to meet the Alliance, they have shot as far away from the natural nature of their world as they can get.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / Goruppa]
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