Ancient civilization:

kodenn

The Kodenn had at one point colonised at least one world within the Federation, and provide a rare insight into galactic culture before the expansion of the Pholi civilization. The Kodenn were thought to have expanded out from near the Galactic core, and had established a minor colony world on Liara, though why further colonization has not been seen within the Federation is not clearly known. Though most of the higher technological objects from this race are now defunct the Federation has learnt a lot from other evidence, particularly from the stone friezes which adorn their buildings.

Physiology

The Kodenn are thought of as being generally terrestrial animals though their aquatic origins requires them to bear there young in freshwater pools, it is not clearly understood why this is so as the infants appear perfectly developed, the current theory is that the skin is not immediately able to deal with desiccation out of water. Apart from this short period in the water the Kodenn seem to have no other requirement for immersion, though the number of pools in their cities suggests that bathing is a social activity. In terms of physiology the Kodenn have a similar appearance to an octopus, though this match is superficial. The body of the adult comprises three main sections, the flattened elliptical head, (similar to an octopus) some 120cm long and 80cm broad has two optical sensing stripes down each side of its body which seem to serve the function of eyes, and also ears (in many frescoes Kodenn are seen wearing their equivalents of sunglasses and earphones). Also arranged across the top surface of the head are two rows of breathing holes, situated above the sensing stripe the tracheal system is similar to some earth insects, these holes feed into a bank of lung like organs underneath. The front part of the body has a ring of tentacles surrounding a three-part jaw, where the grinding surfaces meet to form a short three sided pyramid. However unlike the cephalopod the grinding surfaces are rough, and unlike the sharp beak of the octopus appear to serve to grind the food into a pulp. The raspula like surfaces are also hidden behind lips. The tentacles are somewhat more robust looking than an octopuses, being relatively short, 60cms, and perhaps 20cm broad at the base. They arranged in a roughly circular ring around the mouthparts, though the upper limbs are somewhat smaller than the lower ones, from what is shown on the wall art the more slender upper limbs are more dextrous than the lower ones. The ring of tentacles contains 12 limbs, though the bottom two are greatly different to the other ten, and forms the final main body section. The last two limbs are massive, and reflex in front of the body to run underneath the head, the limbs are joined to the bottom of the head by a vane of skin. Locomotion is effected by ‘rowing’ a series of bony plates in these bottom two tentacles so that the creature appears to ride on dozens of stilts which project out of the think lower tentacles. Though quite rotund and bulky creatures these limbs can create the pulsatile peristaltic effect in two directions independently giving them an effectively zero turning circle. From the currently limited evidence little is known about their internal anatomy, or their biochemistry.

Life cycle:

Little is known about the life cycle of Kodenn, but growth appear to be rapid, and isometric as the young seem to be miniature versions of the adult, and intermediate sized Kodenn are rarely seen in their art. There also appears to be no difference between the sexes, and indeed no evidence that they have distinct genders, the current assumption is that they are hermaphrodites and both are able to bare young, the groove under their body which appears to deliver the young appears identical in all friezes. The length of gestation is unknown, but from assumptions of the size of the newborn (there seems to be no instances of multiple births) it would be reasonable to assume a gestation period of six months. The total lifespan is not known, though from remains found there bodies seem entirely regenerative, and their lifespan is perhaps extremely long.

Diet:

This is one thing which is very clearly understood, all food shown is vegetative, many frescoes depict at great length elaborate dishes from Liaran plants, as well as some species less well known. As regards to the broadness of their diet they seem to consume nearly everything from algal mats on the coast, to woody plants of the forests, and moss and lichens from almost anywhere.

Environment:

Liara’s climate is fairly constant, and nearly all instances of the Kodenn are in tropical regions on the planet, though it is not known whether this is their optimum (there is very little land on Liara which is anywhere other than the tropical regions), one thing that does seem to dictate where they live is the abundance of water, which seems essential.

Settlements:

The Kodenn appear to be city dwellers and although there are smaller buildings scattered about these look like places to visit rather than to live. It is not known whether the Kodenn visit the cities for amenities but spend the rest of their time wandering around in the wilderness (very often depicted) or whether their lives were actually integral to the cities. As far as is known the Kodenn appear only to use technology within cities, and when about in the countryside appear in a ‘natural’ state, technology appears to be used where available, but not required to be apart of their lives. Though the Kodenn could wander about the tropical forests and grasslands in a pre-technological state, their cities are very technologically advanced, the most surprising are the finds of submarine cities, and vast floating ones which wandered the island edges, though since the Kodenn left several million years ago, all of these have become enigmatic ruins.

Society:

It is thought that the Kodenn were a spiritually mature race, preferring to wander the wilderness in groups, but coming back to the cities for socialising and for their technological pursuits, it also appears to be a civilization without needs or desires, there is no existence of an economy or inequality between citizens. As far as is known there have been no instances of war, or conflict on Liara, nor does it seem likely that conflict has been a part of their heritage. It has been supposed that they share feelings and emotions common to the Federation races, they are certainly able to comprehend  art in all its forms, as well as seemingly infinite social activities. In short they seem a nice people to know, and probably show us another example of where spiritual development has created a completely contented and peaceful society.

Technology:

Though little advanced technology remains in working order we do know a lot about what technology they were using, shreds of DCM suggest they were using a range of advanced applications from wormholes to stasis fields. Energy production is a little more enigmatic, though fusion reactors have been found it seems these were auxiliary power supplies, there main form of power seems to be something more exotic, though relies on plasma. The Kodenn are most likely to be far more advanced than the current Federation.

Why Liara?

Given the relatively small population Liara was host to, and the limited knowledge of Kodenn colonies within Federation space it seems that there were no pressing needs to colonise many worlds, though why this is so is unknown. One theory is that the Kodenn population was always very small, given the limited number of settlements on Liara it would suggest the population was small and dispersed, this may mirror the Kodenn civilization on the grander scale. The Kodenn are also thought to have been a relatively mature race, perhaps at their peak, where massive populations and dense colonization were in their far past. Cross checking with other ancient records the Kodenn originated far form Federation space, and colony worlds this distant represents a major achievement in itself. The planet Liara was probably chosen for the relatively limited number of large animals, and perhaps a safe world where the Kodenn could wander without danger, however there are many similar worlds in the Federation of this description. As xenoarchaeology is only just beginning to comprehend all the heritage of near space more colonies will perhaps be found on other worlds, this would not be surprising given the sparseness of artefacts and settlements.

Kodenn as part of near space history:

The Kodenn settled in near space approximately 8 million years ago, and perhaps settled in Federation space for several millennia, perhaps much longer, there impact has been relatively minimal. It is though that at their time of expansion the activity of the galaxy as a whole was pretty low, perhaps another inter-war period like that the Pholi had used to expand, this hypothesis is the major assumption, and the current evidence seems to support this.