The Ghyyl and the Bio-Arks

[cityship]

Few know of the origins of the massive Bio-Arks used by the Transmigration Project—such as Stacy—save for the Daligig. These gargantuan ships are shrouded in mystery, just as the Daligig prefer it. The story spread by the Daligig regarding the ships is that they are prison ships they have “rescued” and repurposed. In truth, however, their presence among the Daligig's arsenal is just another example of their ruthlessness.

Ages ago, when the Ohm first ravaged the multiverse in search of genetic material to stabilize their own DNA, there was another race beginning emerge as a trans-dimensional society. These beings, the Ghyyl, were a small but highly intelligent people. Like many other emerging species at the time, they suffered great losses at the hands of the Ohm, but they managed to pull through with ingenuity and determination. After the Ohm had left known space, leaving the Daligig and the Rom behind, the Rom chose to abandon their advanced technology for a simpler lifestyle, leaving it in the hands of the Ghyyl for safekeeping until a time it would be necessary again.

Upon receiving and taking the technology for their own, the Ghyyl experienced untold prosperity. They became the multiverse's foremost experts on biotechnology. Even so, they lived a relatively simple life apart from most of the multiverse as a whole, remembering their promise to protect the technology for when it was needed. Over time, they even began to learn the secrets of creating true life, creating the race known today as the Dholahm (who do not know the truth of their creators), among other creations.

In time, however, the Rom returned with a message for the Ghyyl, that the time was right, and the gift they had left them would soon be necessary. The Ghyyl began their most ambitious project ever, dedicating nearly all of their resources to the birth of their most perfect creations yet: The massive, powerful techno-organic Bio-Arks. Several dozen were created in the process leading to the birth of the final nine, the true goal of the project. These nine were the largest and most complete among the ships and were among the most powerful, designed to protect and carry literally millions upon millions of people each.

Of course, the Daligig were well aware of the work the Ghyyl was performing, and wanted these powerful ships to aid in their flagship project, Operation Godhead. The Ghyyl knew of the Daligig's interest, having been told of this by the Rom thanks to their precognition. Thus, they knew that what was to come would be a sacrifice necessary for the good of all existance. The Daligig swept in, taking the entire Ghyyl race prisoner and claiming the Bio-Arks for themselves. The Ghyyl were quickly enslaved and each was fitted with a control collar, practically turning them into semi-sentient machines for maintaining the Bio-Arks. The Bio-Arks themselves were also fitted with similar control technology, forced to do the bidding of the Daligig. Only a small handful of Ghyyl escaped this fate, instead waiting hidden on their home world for the arrival of the Transmigration 9 and its crew, where they would help them fight against the Daligig by offering their expertise and technology.

The Ghyyl themselves are a very small, frail race. They stand anywhere from 3-4 feet in height, and are covered in slick, amphibian-like skin. Their most prominent feature is their large, fish-like heads, which house their rather advanced brains. They also have relatively long limbs compared to the size of their body. Free Ghyyl always exhibit an extremely powerful natural intellect, normally able to learn things with surprising speed. The enslaved Ghyyl instead appear more like living automatons, performing every action with monotonous efficiency, working solely from the information locked within their mind.

The Bio-Arks themselves are absolute marvels of technology. In truth, they are actually among the most powerful psychic beings in existence, though most of that is used up in maintaining their massive size among the fully fledged bio-ships. Those who have had their growth stunted at an early age instead exhibit this power in more direct ways, capable of destroying planets with ease. As such, these few stunted individuals are placed under extreme control, used only when raw brute force is necessary.

While the ships themselves reproduce asexually, each fully grown bio-ark capable of birthing a child on their own, most tend to subconsciously choose a gender to represent themselves, as they develop their personalities among the beings that crew them. Thus, some represent themselves with male or female avatars, though some choose to remain androgynous. Unrestrained, a Bio-Ark would be a completely autonomous and sentient being, but the control equipment essentially forces them to obey “programming”, making resisting control very difficult for them.

There are only 9 fully fledged Bio-Arks, currently in use by the Transmigration project. These particular ships are the most powerful among the lot of them. All of them are approximately the same size as Stacy, which is approximately the size of a small moon. This gigantic mass is offset by gravity manipulation arrays built into them, allowing them to stay in-orbit without interfering with a planet's gravity.

The majority of the other ships are only capitol ship sized, still more massive than a majority of most ships. These ships are currently being held by the Daligig in reserve in case they need extra firepower in their missions. A very small minority of the ships are those that have had their growth stunted, allowing their full psychic ability to be available as brute force. These smaller ships are used as weapons when absolute brute force is necessary.