Species

Species
Species are unique lifeforms.

Union Science has developed a complex classification methodology.


 * “How many are there? Mr. President we Sarans know  millions of Sentient species, past and present and yet we hardly  know what lies beyond the boundaries of the Upward Sector.”


 *  Commander Diemuthose of the Saran Mission to Earth 2089 

Cognitive Level - Level of Sentinence

 * Omni or Near Omni Presence – Entity Level – Dark One, Crea, The Rule, Voice of the Rule [1]
 * Super Sentience – Example Narth Supreme, Mother Machine, Klack Queen
 * Sentinence – 99 % of all known sentient life forms
 * Semi Sentinence – Dogs, Dolphins, Elephants, Cats, Conck Rocks, Yoistal, Piostla Pods
 * Non Sentient – Animals, Creatures without higher cognitive abilites

Union science estimates over 10 million sentient species in the M-0 Galaxy alone. There are 23,000 known space faring species with a TL 3 or highr in the M-0 Galaxy.

Sentient species are sometimes erroneously referred to as races, which more accurately referred to groups or subspecies within a species.

Lifeforms
The five characteristics of a lifeforms are
 * 1)organization (a distinct form and appearance)
 * 2)irritability (the ability to respond to external stimuli)
 * 3)metabolism (the ability to convert energy to stay alive)
 * 4)reproduction (the ability to create new lifeforms)
 * 5)adaptation (the ability to change as their environments change).

The predominant form of sentient life in the M-0 Galaxy apear to be carbon-based lifeforms

 * 1)86 %  With left turning DNA and able to consume Left Sugars  -LDLS
 * 2)9 %    With right turning DNA and able to consume Left Sugars – RDLS
 * 3)3 %    With left turning DNA and able to consume Right Sugars -  LDRS
 * 4)1 %    With right turning DNA and able to consume Right Sugars – RDRS
 * 5)1 %    Other ( Left or right DNA and able to consume both)

The perecentages are suprisingly similar in the Andromeda Galaxy, but there less than 20 % has been explored.

Other Sentient life
However, other forms of sentient life does exist, such as silicon-based or energy-based lifeforms. Across all species, the majority were oxygen breathers, although a number breathed other substances such as ammonia, cyanogen, methane, methanogen, helium and other gases There are speices that do not breath at all,

Despite these differences, most species are easily classified into a number of distinct categories:

Mammalian sentient species
warm-blooded vertebrates, who nourished young through secretions from mammary glands. Most mammals are covered in hair. Some of the most prominent species in the galaxy are mammals, such as the Humans and their numerous offshoots.

Reptilian sentient species
are cold-blooded vertebrates, typically covered in scales or bony plates. They typically evolved from species such as lizards, snakes and crocodiles. Most reptiles are land based, and lay eggs to reproduce. Reptilian sentient species were also very common in the M-0 Galaxy, most notably the Shiss.

Plant sentient species
synthesized energy from water, nutrients and sunlight. As such were usually immobile, although some species were able to move to seek better soil, light or nutrients. w

Insect sentient species
arthropods, with defined body segments; most commonly head, thorax and abdomen. Many may have  hard exoskeletons, wings, and could have any number of segmented legs.Some insectoid species evolved into different forms, such as humanoid insect species. Noteably the Klack and the Xunx

Hard invertebrates
hard outer bodies with no internal skeleton. These often included crustaceans, and some flying creatures. While this classification also included insectoid species, they were grouped separately. Examples of hard invertebrate sentient species include the Karthanians

Soft invertebrates
descended from soft-bodied species with no bones, such as octopi, slugs and worms. Sentient species of this origin took many diverse forms, such as the Garbini, Shaill and Shail

Avian sentient species
warm-blooded, feathered and winged creatures. They typically had light bones and strong muscles, needed to enable flight. However, many sentient avian species had lost the ability to fly.

Aquatic sentient species
those descended from marine life. These lifeforms often fit into other categories, but were classified together. Aquatic lifeforms included those that could breathe water, air, or both. Notably the Ult

Craniopod sentient species
despite these broad categories, lifeforms so truly alien that they did not fit easily into any of the common categories. These were categorized as exotic sentient species, and include the Nul, Bellebees, Takkians

Centmac
artificial sentients, such as sentient AIs, robots, the X101.

Other Sentients
Non Corps, Camogi

[1] Existence of Entities is still disputed by General Science and considered only theoretical possible. Workgroup OLYMPUS has only recently been taken serious