>Cyr the Destroyer: First Half<

The Elleghasta:

The cyclopean, hypogeal species that form of the Ballastian Empire.

They first evolved in deep caverns on the tidally locked world of Ballasta, safe from the belting radiation of Home Star, before terraforming their planet in an event called the Terraformation.

They are often referred to as Ballastians, however this is an incorrect etymology.

Three morphs: Two sexing genders, male and female (sexers), and one non-sexing gender, Clonic.

The physical differences between sexers are relatively minor; females are generally smaller-bodied, longer-necked, possessing brighter coloration with more extravagant flourishes along their jutting column of dorsal spinous processes and more delicate nutrient and respiratory gills than their male counterparts.

All elleghasts possess three tripartite legs, two leading, one trailing, each ending in a sleek, keratinized heel.

They are four-armed: The larger two arms end in powerful three-digit clawed fingers, often referred to as 'primes'.

Their other two arms are smaller, delicate, with multi-faceted hands specialized for sign language which are held tight to the chest between their primes.

Ellegasts possess a eloquent organ, the ventrum, a small patch of flesh that luminesces with colorful patterns which serve to depict emotional states and non-verbal communication. They also use this organ for reception of tactile messages, a form of body language that initially developed in the Dwelling Caves prior to the Terraformation.

Although the ventrum's use in tactile language coevolved with the elleghasta, it's function as a luminescing visual organ was an unintended consequence of manipulating pleiotropic genes targeting visual acuity during the First Great Movement of the Terraformation, in which genetic modifications were forcibly implemented across the general population in order to prepare the elleghastan population for the migration to the surface.

In specific, these modifications adapted the Elleghastan retina to absorb the wider range of wavelengths present on the surface, heightening visual acuity and depth of field despite the lack of binocular or trinocular vision.

Clonics are significantly larger than the other two sexing morphs, with some reaching sizes of nearly three to four times that of the average sexer. They reproduce by a specialized form of budding, in which the clone bud develops until it breaks off, and eventually produces a sexing offspring with proper care. They are more sturdy in build, with wider set shoulders, and are generally more muscular.

Clonics are traditionally independent, often shunned, and historically forbidden from forming romantic relationships, with even other Clonics.

Male and females reproduce sexually, and can produce any iteration of morphs, although this distribution always skews toward Clonics. Clonics cannot sire Clonics, due to an fatal autosomal allele in 'embryonic' gill development.

Although they have always faced persecution for their differences, in recent history, Clonics were hunted to near 'extinction' in an effort to skew the population towards sexing genders, in an event dubbed the Clonic War, often referred to as the 'Gendered War' or 'The Gender Wars'.

The war came to an abrupt end during the First Helitian Invasion, where Clonics proved to be instrumental in successfully defending Ballasta. During this time, much of early elleghastan history was subsequently erased, including the fact that all of the first elleghastans were themselves Clonic.

Despite fear, hatred, and isolation, Clonics have always made strides in elleghastan civilization, including defending Ballasta in the First and Second Helitian Invasions, as well as in many subsequent interstellar conflicts: they now form the brunt of the Armada's backbone, with many rising to positions of power and prominence, such as Lucide Siloss the Warmonger, and Ballok Parsi, a famed ecogeologist and seismologist that pioneered early studies into Ballasta's geological composition. Following the First and Second Helitian Invasions, many Clonics took to the cities of the surface: their successful integration lead to a wave of cultural development and innovation across multiple disciplines.

CONCEPT ART:
Concept drawings and pencil sketches of Cyr by Anthony, as well as a original concept artwork for Mayna, Eldrid, and Ballok by editor Katie Bolte! Cyr's portrait was done by Anthony with a mixture of prismacolor pencils, sharpies, POSCA paint markers, and charcoal/graphite.

The rock in the first image is a Television Stone (Ulexite, a fascinating mineral that carry light much like fiberoptic cables do! - Cyr is a Geologist by trade, after all!)

Also pictured are some iterations of elleghasta anatomy. In particular, figuring out how their tripartite hips work was difficult, as was the overall configuration of the Clonic design. But Katie did an awesome job, especially given the crazy deadlines!

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