The Races of the Sea of Ice

In what is currently planned to be the eighth volume of the series, although it is more likely to have a higher number before it is published, an Angel opens a pathway to space travel and other planets. She does this after reading a work of speculative (science) fiction, where the author had been fighting in wars in Africa, and he based most of his alien species on animals that he had encountered in Africa or on his other travels. As is said by one of the characters, it is unknown whether the Angel created the entire Sea of Ice, the inhabited planets, and the Twelve Races, or if she just opened a pathway to something that had always existed, and perhaps the author of the book that inspired her had also had some psychic ability that allowed him to tap into the knowledge of what was already out there. (While the author of this series cannot claim to know the answer with certainty, his money is on the Angel actually tapping a huge power source unknowingly and creating the whole thing based on her vision after reading the book.)

Race	Notable Characteristics	Ship Color
Orso	The Orso are bear-like. They are the most intelligent, advanced, and physically strong of the races, also having very long lives. In the book that the Angel read, they were the most advanced race on the Sea of Ice and taught humans much about how to survive on the Sea of Ice. In reality, they were the most advanced until humanity broke out onto the Sea of Ice. The Orso have strong senses of humor and go into battle singing drinking songs, like some sort of deranged Vikings. It helps that they are heavy-worlders originating in a very tough environment, so they are strong and have extremely fast reflexes. The Orso also are a species with high levels of curiosity and love of puzzles. As adults, they range between about four and six feet high.	Blue-Gray/Slate
Lapini	The Lapini are rabbit-like. They are a small species, but also from a low-gravity planet. They tend to be complex in their thinking to the point of convolution. Think of the most Rube Goldbergish way to do something, and the Lapini will find a way to make it even more complex. They are known for their thousands of very strictly-defined poetic forms. Adults tend to be no more than four feet in height.	Red
Cu	The Cu are fox-like. Their usual occupations on the Sea of Ice are piracy and brigandage. They are a very aggressive race and avaricious, especially consumed with taking what others make. They tend to be clever, but not necessarily highly intelligent. Those Cu who come out on the Sea of Ice tend to have a societal hierarchy based on strength and aggression. The bigger and meaner the Cu, the more likely they are in a position of power. The Cu tend to stand four to five feet in height as adults. They often prey on Lapini, Feli, and Chiropti, because all of these are low-gravity races; therefore, they are not too strong to fight for the Cu as the Orso are.	Orange
Campard	The Campard are giraffe or okapi-like beings. They tend to be tall, thin, and graceful. They are a steady, unimaginative, but productive race. They are frequently targeted by Reptanti pirates/warships/raiders. Adults stand eight to nine feet high. Their original homeworld was destroyed when the sun entered a later phase of its existence, but they had spread to several other planets through the Sea of Ice before then.	Yellow-White
Pingu	The Pingu are auk-like, standing about four feet high. They come from a world with gravity about one-third more than Earth’s. They have a single empire that is constantly at war with the Reptanti.	White
Loxodi	Mammoth-like philosophers, their home planet’s conditions come closest to the conditions of Earth and Africa where humanity got its start. The Loxodi are peaceful and intelligent. If angered, they are not above using every shred of that intelligence and their inventiveness to literally or figuratively eviscerate their opponents. Because of this, both the Cu and Reptanti tend to avoid them, going on to easier targets. This is even though the Reptanti tend to be much stronger and faster (as heavy-worlders) and have much larger ships with larger crews. The Loxodi still sometimes have encounters with the Diceri, but then the Diceri are known to be a bit unbalanced. Loxodi tend to be around six-feet tall, although there are occasional stand-outs among them who are up to ten-feet tall.	Yellow-Orange
Diceri	The Diceri are rhinoceros-like beings. They are easily offended and tend to be very unpredictable. They are strong, as heavy-worlders, third of the races behind the Orso and Mukota. Despite the high gravity they come from, they tend to be seven to eight feet in height. They are also very strongly built. This and their unpredictability mean they can do a lot of damage while on the rampage, and they are frequently on the rampage. No members of other races have ever visited a Diceri world. (And why would any sane being want to do so?)	Blue-White
Chiropti	The Chiropti are small, nocturnal, batlike creatures. They come from a low-gravity world and can fly. They will often fly above their ships on the Sea of Ice as look-outs, giving them a good idea of what is coming and more ability to avoid the Cu and Reptanti. They still do have encounters and have their ships pirated by the Cu, but are more able to avoid them. There will still be a high number of Chiropti ships in any Cu fleet, though, because the Chiropti homeworld conditions are closest to those of the Cu homeworld. The only difference is in the color of the ships, since the Chiropti are nocturnal, their ships are midnight blue. If the Cu actually made their own ships, they would be orange to mimic their homeworld’s sun.	Midnight Blue
Reptanti	The Reptanti are a crab-like race. They are from a planet with about half again the gravity of Earth, so they tend to be strong and fast individually. They are the least like humans of the races in thought and shape. Crablike, they have roundish carapaces and eight legs, including the front set with their foreclaws. Being turned upside-down onto their backs can usually disable them. They tend to be at war with all the other races. Luckily for some, their ships are large and ponderous, so ship-to-ship actions usually can be avoided. They will, however, raid planets, trying to take away the natives and their goods and ships. They only use their own ships, so it is unknown what they do with any ships they capture. They may melt them down for the metals. Reptanti ships are made from solid gold. Apparently, on their homeworld, the beaches are covered with gold sands.	Green
Werepisca	The Werepisca are mermen and mermaids. Their ships have large water tanks for them to swim in while out on the Sea of Ice. Their homeworld is fairly Earthlike, except a little warmer and wetter. Not much more is known about them as they pretty much keep to themselves. They do some light trading with the Lapini.	Blue-Green
Feli	The Feli are very catlike beings. They have long, white hair (fur) and average about three feet high. They tend to be unpredictable, but not overly aggressive as the Diceri are. They are playful and often enjoy being the center of attention until they don’t. Their ships can be navigational hazards at times because the entire crew might fall asleep while under way. They tend to be extraordinary at energy conservation, i.e. sleeping most of the time. While they can be somewhat social and have some larger ships, many of their ships are small, some meant to be used by only one Feli.	Very Light Green, Almost White
Mukota	The Mukota are pig-like. They come from a world with gravity more than twice as high as Earth’s. They tend to be in the four to five foot range and very, very tough. While they are not as unpredictable and easily-offended as the Diceri, they do take affairs of honor seriously and will fight hard and have long memories. Their conflicts are most likely to be with the Diceri and the Reptanti. In the long run, they do not lose. They may be raided. They may lose a battle. But they will always get their own back and win the war. They are also seen as fairly intelligent and seldom come into conflict with any race other than the Reptanti or Diceri. They are extremely fierce in war, battles, or duels. They developed in heavily-forected land, which accounts for the dark green coloration of their ships. They tend to have a color sensibility that stands out as very alien to humans. Their hearing and smell are powerful senses. Their sight tends to be less acute than human sight.	Dark Green

The ship color is mentioned because ships on the sea of ice tend to mimic conditions that the race developed under. Thus the Chiropti, who are nocturnal, have midnight blue ships, even though their sun was in the orange to yellow spectrum. Likewise, the Mukota developed in deep forests, and even though their sun was bright, it never penetrated to the forest floor, so their ships are dark green. All ships on the Sea of Ice are metal. Each race uses a different metal or alloy. The metal is then covered by a colony of bacteria-like creatures known as gobblers. Gobblers live off dead organic matter, including sewage, garbage, flakes of skin that fall from the body during the course of the day, and anything else. In return, the gobblers give heat, light, and gravity. The light may not correspond to the color of the metal. For instance, the ships of the Reptanti give off green light by their gobblers, but the metal is pure gold.

There are two other types of creatures native to the Sea of Ice: blowers and the Fey. Blowers create air and make a breathable atmosphere, while living off love. The Fey tend to draw heat and light from suns that show through the Sea of Light and open portals between the Sea of Ice and normal space. The Fey may also have some form of intelligence.

More races may be encountered by humanity as they go out onto the Sea of Ice. Some may fit the mold of being like some Earth species. Others may be truly alien.