Ool

The ool (pronounced /uːl/, sometimes known as "brainbags", are a race of organisms inhabiting the Second Konabian Empire. Ool resemble giant, transparent, spherical sacs one or two meters in diameter, the only visible feature within being a brain in the center of the sac, which in both size and shape bears an oddly close resemblance to a human brain. The main "body" of the ool is pale yellow, varying to chartreuse or cream. About half of all ool bear on their exteriors a hundred or so small stalks on each of which is a tiny, round eye, usually light grey or white but sometimes bright blue, red, or purple. The other half are smooth-surfaced and eyeless, but able to see their surroundings psionically. Some biologists claim that the eyeless ool represent a higher stage of evolution, that once the ool evolved psionic sight the physical eye became redundant and unnecessary and that within a few tens of millennia probably all ool will have lost their superfluous eyes. Not everyone agrees with this theory; the ool with eyes in particular tend to find it unpalatable. In any case, there seems to be no measurable difference between the vision of the ool with and without eyes.

Ool are found throughout the Empire, but especially seem to find a home in gas giants, where their floating ability is a significant advantage.

Anatomy

While the ool's membranous "skin" looks fragile, and the thing almost seems as if one good blow could burst it like a balloon, in fact the ool is a lot tougher than it appears. Despite its transparency, the outer membrane is difficult to penetrate, and even if it is broken it doesn't mean the ool's death; its interior is divided into a number of chambers by nearly invisible sheets of tissue. The nerves running from the ool's skin and eyes to the brain are all within these membranes, though also too small to be readily visible. Nor is the ool's interior the undifferentiated liquid that it seems at first glance. While much of it is a gelatinous material, embedded in that matrix are a number of transparent organs that can be made out in close examination. Most of these organs are glands of various kinds; the matrix itself serves as a circulatory system, along with certain motile escort cells that help chemicals reach their destined locations.

The ool does not ingest food whole, but rather digests it externally and absorbs it through its outer membrane, which can secrete digestive fluids. Many non-ool find this a disturbing sight, and ool generally prefer to (or at least find that others prefer it when they) eat in private, unless among close acquaintances who are already familiar with the ool's dining habits and unbothered by them.

Ool are incapable of producing sound without external aid, but can communicate telepathically. They are able to hear sound, and in fact are very sensitive to its direction, able to sense the vibration it produces on their membranes.

Psionics

Ool have a number of psionic powers, some of which given their lack of manipulating members they find a virtual necessity. They can move objects telekinetically, able to exert a consistent force of up to six hundred Newtons, or more than twice that for brief periods, and to affect objects up to five meters away. Their telekinesis is also good for fine manipulation; almost anything a human can do with his fingers, an ool can manage psionically. Apparently their telekinetic powers extend in some way to increasing and decreasing the motion of molecules, allowing the ool some measure of temperature control; an ool can raise or lower the ambient temperature by up to fifteen degrees Celsius, or affect the temperature of a small object by about twenty-five. Ool also have some low-level powers of mindreading and metapathy, though in most ool these powers are weak and easily resisted.

A few ool can augment these powers above the norm for their race, exerting more force with their telekinesis, or at a greater distance, or causing a greater change in temperature. In addition, some individual ool are able to develop supplementary psionic abilities not common to their race. Many ool, for example, have some powers of psionic clairvoyance; others can start or control fire, or even telelocate short distances. One power that a few ool are able to develop that seems to be much rarer, if not nonexistent, among other races is the power to manifest a strange crystalline substance they call neen.

Psychology

While, like members of any other race, ool vary widely in personality and disposition, overall they tend to be curious but aloof. Ool have remarkable abilities of visualization and memory, able to solve "in their heads" problems that the average human would need to work on on paper. They enjoy just pondering, and are particularly fond of logic puzzles; ool have invented some new types of puzzles that most humans find utterly baffling.

Ool have a reputation as lacking empathy. This isn't fully deserved; if it may be the case that ool perhaps care less for people of other races than they do for those of their own kind, this is equally true for many other races, including humans. Perhaps what comes across as a lack of empathy comes from the lack of affect in the telepathic communication of many ool, combined with their tendency to pontificate about the possible ramifications of a tragic occurrence, which may be misinterpreted as implying that they don't care about its immediate effects on the sufferer.

Reproduction

Ool have three (visually indistinguishable) genders, which have come to be referred to, confusingly, as rock, paper, and scissors. Contrary to what one might expect from association with the game that inspired these names, no one of these genders has any particular dominance over any other; all three of them are equally necessary for reproduction.

In the ool reproductive process, the three participants first gather together; they do not have to touch (though they may), but they must remain within a meter or so of each other. More than three ool may participate, but for reproduction to take place at least one of each gender must be present. The actual process takes place mostly psionically, in a prolonged exchange of emotions, sensations, and information that may take up to an hour and that most ool find highly pleasurable. At the end of this period, one or two of the participating ool (but never all three) may end up with an embryo formed in its interior. The embryo at first will be microscopic, but within about a week will grow large enough to be visible with the naked eye, and thereafter continue growing for another thirty weeks or so, whereupon, now some thirty centimeters in diameter, they will be expelled through the parents' membrane and able to continue life on their own.

Curiously, there seems to be no correlation between the parent's gender and whether or not the parent will become implanted with an embryo. However, the same individual ool, repeatedly reproducing, does seem to consistently tend to become impregnated, or not. Because of this, some biologists prefer to propose that the ool has not three genders, but six, sometimes referred to as catalyst rock, carrier rock, catalyst paper, carrier paper, catalyst scissors, and carrior scissors. It is the carriers within whom the embryos actually grow, but the presence of a catalyst is necessary; at least one carrier and one catalyst must be present, as well as one rock, one paper, and one scissors. (Some biologists prefer to refer to catalysts and carriers as simply male and female, respectively, but others believe that this implies certain correspondences that may be misleading.) The precise mechanisms behind ool reproduction are still poorly understood, and if the ool comprehend them better than other races, they haven't yet chosen to share.