Gieeg

''This article concerns the species and its biological information. For information about their society, see the Gieeg Empire page.''

Gieegs are a race of highly advanced psionic aliens. They are considered to be one of, if not the oldest sentient species still active in the galaxy. They hail from their homeworld of Erlana.

Physical Description
The Gieegs are species with the average height of 1.97 meters. They have a rather feline-resembling appearance. Their heads are adorned with large, pointy ears and a clear snout, where they have a mouth and nostrils. They also possess a single pair of eyes.

Their backs are erect or slightly hunched and have slender forms, which are usually covered in soft fur that is almost microscopic. They have two arms with four fingers, including one thumb on each hand. They are bipedal, with two legs, both having one knee, and two toes on each foot.

A notable feature of the Gieegs is their long, slim tail, which ends in a point. It grows as the Gieeg ages and individuals of venerable age can have very long tails. In fact, looking at the length of a Gieeg's tail is a reliable method of telling their age.

Different Strands
Due to the massive expansionism of the Gieegs during the Prosperity and Conquest period, various different strands have developed to adapt to different climates of the worlds they settled on. These strands often have slight differences to their anatomy and abilities.

-Continental: The "default", original strain. It is the one described above and the most common one. These Gieegs were born and raised on temperate worlds or metropolitan areas with stabilized environments.

-Arid: The second most common strain. The features of Arid Gieegs are more reptilian in appearance: Instead of large ears, they now have horns, with their hearing bones now being fully internal. Their heads are more conical and the skin all around their body lacks fur, also being slightly harder. almost scale-like. This strain is the result of tropical, arid and dry environments.

-Arctic: This strain has much thicker, noticeable fur to better preserve heat, as it originates from worlds with low temperatures.

-Aquatic: This strain has much smoother, lighter skin, similar to those found on some fish to help them moving in water. Their mobility in water, surface or underwater, is much better than of other Gieegs and have fins on various places of their body. They live on ocean worlds.

-Avian: The Avian strain is the rarest. They have overall less body weight and instead of fur, they have feathers, which are the thickest on their arms, giving them the ability to glide. They originate from gas giants.

Hair
Despite Gieegs being very mammal-like and having fur, most Gieegs do not actually have hair (as in haircuts etc) on their heads. Head hair is not natural for the Gieegs, but it can be grown via artificial methods.

In ancient times, Gieegs of high rank and importance groomed the fur on their head in a way that it would grow very long, resembling a mane, to display their status. Oftentimes, the "mane" also became a different colour than the Gieeg's normal fur. If one groomed their hair for their entire life, it becomes a part of their genetic makeup and their offspring will most likely naturally grow similar hair.

Because Arid Gieegs do not have fur, instead having just hard skin, they cannot groom hair and can only receive it genetically if one of their parents is a hairgroomed non-Arid Gieeg.

Today, the practice of "mane-grooming" is not limited to high-ranking members of the society and is more common, though it can still denote an appearance of importance and power. For example, all four of the Gieeg gods have hair.

PSI
PSI is the Gieegs' most notable feature. All Gieegs are psionic and the abilites this fact provides them with are often used in daily life. They are some of the most powerful psionic in the galaxy, bearing a natural talent for using this sixth sense.

Diet
The Gieegs are omnivore, meaning that they can eat almost everything that humans do, from meat to flora produce. However, they cannot eat fungi and bitter-tasted food. They have a preference though, mostly to seafood, puffed Nerii grains and general fried goods. Of course, the individual cuisine of each sub-culture or region affects the usual Gieeg diet.

Gieegs possess very little means to store energy and nutriets for later times. A single day without food would cause them to starve. As such, the Gieegs usually need a steady diet of seven meals per day.