Cultures > Chiss

Biology and Appearance

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Phatty:
The Chiss and baseline Humans regarded each other as aliens, but genetic studies have indicated that the two peoples were close biological cousins, and it is not clear whether the differences between them were the product of straightforward evolutionary divergence and differing planetary habitats, or the result of genetic engineering similar to that which produced such hybrid species as the Massassi, and the Myke.
Female Chiss.

Outwardly, the Chiss were distinguished from baseline Humans by three clearly visible traits—blue skin, midnight-black hair, and glowing red eyes; but their blood was red, and a case can be made that all these superficial features were the result of external factors in the biosphere of the ice-locked planet Csilla, said to be their homeworld, or at least, the political, cultural and military center of their civilization. Their coloration was said to be caused by the same atmospheric minerals that gave Csilla's glaciers their distinctive bluish tinge, and while less is known about the reasons for their distinctive glowing red eyes, an environmental reaction does seem to be involved, in as much as Chiss eyes were observed to glow brighter as the oxygenation of the atmosphere they found themselves in increased.

Beyond these potentially superficial differences, it is not clear how far the Chiss diverged from Human norms. Although both Chiss and Humans speculated about distinct physiological differences, for instance in the vocal apparatus or skeletal structure, there is no really firm proof of stark evolutionary differences. One theory put forward is that the Chiss were in fact descended from an ancient group of Human colonists who settled in the Unknown Regions long before the foundation of the Galactic Republic and were subsequently forgotten. There was, in fact, a Human sleeper ship colony established on Csilla around 27,500 BBY, though records of this were virtually nonexistent and it remained unknown how a remote area of the galaxy could have been trailblazed so far back.[4] It does seem that the Chiss possessed a faster-than-average metabolic rate, leading to a distinctively lean physique, and they were considered to have reached maturity by the age of ten or twelve; but there is nothing to say that the Chiss metabolic rate sits outside the range of known Human parameters, and it is not clear that their early maturity was a result of strictly genetic factors rather than cultural attitudes.

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