This is a fan translation of Envoy From the Heavens (Посланец небес) by Mikhail Akhmanov, currently only available in Russian and, because of the author's passing in 2019, unlikely to ever be published in English. This is the book in a series called Trevelyan's Mission (Миссия Тревельяна), which is a spin-off from the author's Arrivals from the Dark (Пришедшие из мрака) six-book series.
I claim no rights to the contents herein.
Appendix 1
Galactic Races Mentioned in the Novel
Daskins, or Ancients: a highly advanced race that ruled over the galaxy several million years ago and then vanished for an unknown reason. Their appearance, language, social structure, goals, and worldview are unknown, although there are artifacts left behind throughout the galaxy that allow one to judge their technology. Such artifacts include an ancient map of the galaxy (the so-called Daskin Portolan), remains of various astroengineering structures, spores of quasisentient thinking devices, etc. It is believed that information about Limbo and the contour drive, which all the galactic races use, has also come from the Daskins.
Dromi: non-humanoids, who have built their star empire in the Orion Arm (the galactic arm where Earth and the homeworlds of many other technologically-developed races are located). They evolved from amphibians and appear similar to large bipedal and two-armed frogs. They are known for their high rate of reproduction, which leads to the necessity of settling more and more worlds. Extremely aggressive. They have served the Lo'ona Aeo as their Defenders for nearly two millennia before being replaced by humanity in that position. They have frequently fought the Earth Federation (beginning in the 24th century).
Faata, or Bino Faata: a humanoid race, which has built its star empire in the Perseus Arm, which is separated from the Orion Arm (and Earth's sector) by the Void, which has virtually no star systems. An aggressive civilization, based on a psychic symbiosis with quasisentient creatures, a legacy of the Daskins, which are employed at all levels of production and control. The Faata were the first galactic race encountered by humanity; in 2088, their enormous starship, carrying hundreds of combat modules, invaded the Solar System and caused significant destruction on Earth, which was followed by a retaliatory operation and four Void Wars, which lasted for 125 years overall. From a physiological and metabolism standpoints, the Faata are similar to humans and, unlike the Kni'lina, are capable of interbreeding with them, which was confirmed with artificial insemination experiments. The Faata race is subdivided into castes, and the highest and ruling caste possesses psychic abilities and is considered to be fully sentient, while the rest (workers, soldiers, pilots, females) are seen as partly sentient. Large population groups living on the continents of colonized worlds are ruled by Sheaves, several of the most experienced individuals of the higher caste which are in total control of the existence of the lower castes. A number of them have been bred artificially, and their physiology is radically different from that of the humans. The Bino Faata interact with the Earth Federation extremely rarely.
Haptors: a humanoid race, whose physiology and appearance differs significantly from the human standard than the Kni'lina, the Bino Faata, the Teruxi, and the Osierans; they are sexually incompatible with humans, and artificial insemination does not produce viable offspring. They have colonized and settled several hundred worlds in the Orion Arm, which are located closer to the galactic core than the Earth Federation. Between three-and-a-half and two thousand years ago, they were acting as the Defenders of the Lo'ona Aeo before being replaced by the Dromi, which led to a lengthy and bloody conflict between these races. They are tall (approximately two meters), with a powerful build, thick dark skin, a strip of fur along the spine, an utter lack of head hair, horn-like bumps above the temples, pointed ears, and eyes with vertical pupils. They do not fit the human standards of beauty. They are very strong physically, calculating, cruel, aggressive, and disdainful of other races. They have fought the Earth Federation in the 26th century, but were crushed, followed by a peace treaty and the establishment of diplomatic ties.
Kni'lina: a humanoid race, whose sector of influence is located in the Orion Arm. They are similar in appearance to humans; the differences are negligible: the lack of any hair covering, a slightly different metabolism (they are unable to consume meat), and the inability to interbreed with humans. They possess numerous colonies in approximately sixty to eighty star systems, as well as a powerful battle fleet. They (specifically, the Ni Clan) have fought the Earth Federation in the 27th-28th centuries and suffered a defeat. Currently, cultural and diplomatic ties have been established between the Federation and the Kni'lina, but their stability is dubious.
Llyano: non-humanoids, tend to avoid interacting with other races. This may be related to their speech, whose sounds cannot be reproduced by humanoids; occasional interactions with them are accomplished using artificial languages created by the Lo'ona Aeo. The precise location of the Llyano sector is unknown; it likely lies hundreds of parsecs beyond the worlds of the Lo'ona Aeo, in the direction of the galactic south pole. The Llyano are an isolationist race and primarily interact with the Lo'ona Aeo, although the details of their trade are still unknown. Appearance-wise, they are furry beings with rounded shapes and four or six limbs (according to eyewitness accounts, they look like small fat bears).
Lo'ona Aeo: a race of pseudohumanoids, one of the oldest and most technologically-developed races in the galaxy. They appear to be similar to the people of Earth, although smaller in stature, graceful in build, and extremely beautiful by human standards. Their categorization as pseudohumanoids is based on their reproductive process: the Lo'ona Aeo have four sexes (male, half-male, half-female, and female, with only the latter capable of conceiving and birthing a child), with the conception performed psychically (the Lo'ona Aeo lack any reproductive organs typical of humanoids). Their sector in the Orion Arm consists of the core (the Pink Zone), where their homeworld of Kullat and their ancient colonies (Fayo, Arza, and others) are located, and the Outer, or Blue, Zone, with a concentration of approximately twenty planets (Harra, Tintakh, Danwait, and others), which were settled later (10-12 millennia ago). In the modern times, the Lo'ona Aeo have abandoned their planets and moved to astroids, artificial space cities with a low gravity, where they have created comfortable living conditions. The Lo'ona Aeo are long-lived, peace-loving, and tend to avoid direct contact with other races, although they engage in widespread trade of their advanced technology. All diplomatic ties and trade are performed via the Servs, highly-advanced biorobots, whose intelligence exceeds the Glick-Chaney Threshold. To protect their galactic sector, the Lo'ona Aeo hire Defender races, two of which are known: the Dromi and the Haptors before them. Starting with the late 21st century, the Defenders are recruited from the Earth Federation, and they are permitted to settle on Tintakh and Danwait. The Lo'ona Aeo is the first race with whom Earth has established peaceful contact and cooperation; their diplomatic mission, represented by Servs, has been based in the Embassy Domes on Luna since 2097.
Metamorphs, or Proteids: a non-humanoid, presumably peaceful race, which possesses the gift of radically altering its appearance, metabolism, and physiology. They are also capable of telepathy and teleportation. Due to these qualities, they rarely make use of artificial devices, although they do possess starships and some analog of devices with artificial intelligence. They do not engage in interstellar expansion, populating only their homeworld, the coordinates of which are unknown. Their emissaries/observers are present in many sectors, taking on the appearance of the locals, but covertly (due to their nature, they are virtually uncatchable). Confirmed contacts with Metamorphs over the past thousand years are extremely few. But it is known that this race assisted Earth during the initial battles with the Bino Faata and the subsequent Void Wars.
Paraprimates, or Paraprims: a technologically-advanced civilization of four-armed beings, whose appearance is reminiscent of chimpanzees, which was how they were given this name. First contact took place on Osier (in the current era), and little is known about the Paraprims. These beings are undoubtedly peace-loving and humane; their culturological and progression policy towards younger races is similar to that of the FDAC. The location of the planets is as yet unknown, but there is hope for fruitful interactions in the future.
Silmarri: this race differs sharply from all the other galactic races by their appearance, psychology, means of reproduction, technology, and language (if one exists). Like the Daskins, they are among the oldest races of the galaxy (their race is approximately 25-30 million years old). They look like giant worms (up to six meters in length, 1.5 meters in diameter), covered in whitish skin; they can stretch their bodies out to 12-15 meters. They feed through their skin and require a thin oxygen atmosphere. They do not have a permanent settlement area, they are not attached to any worlds or star systems, instead wandering through the galaxy aboard their ships (an example of a so-called "nomadic civilization"). Silmarri technology has a clearly biological aspect; their ships are living beings, capable of entering Limbo and adapted for space travel. Each ship contains a family group that can sometimes reach thousands of individuals. They are insular and typically non-aggressive, but attempts to destroy their ships cause them to demonstrate their capabilities for active defense and attack.
Teruxi: humanoids, whose race is closest of all to humans: a nearly identical appearance, similar metabolism, and viable progeny. The Earth Federation first made contact with the Teruxi in the 28th century, and the relations between the races have been developing peacefully over the past two hundred years. This was helped by the slightly lower technological level of the Teruxi, to whom human representatives gave the Daskin Portolan, the contour drive, and a number of other machines and devices. The Teruxi are actively exploring the star systems closest to their homeworld, thus marking the borders of their sector of influence. It is located in the Orion Arm, near the Void, closer to the galactic core than the human colonies of Aezat, T'har, and Ro'on (Beta and Gamma Malleus systems), which makes Teruxi irreplaceable allies in case of a new Faata invasion.